


Are You Lost In Paradise?

by dameronpoetry



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Award Show Hijinx, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Has A Big Family, Coming Out, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gaslighting, Gay Bucky Barnes, Idiots in Love, M/M, Made Up Of Other Marvel Characters, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, No OCs, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-07-11 01:03:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 54,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7018522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dameronpoetry/pseuds/dameronpoetry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Steve and Bucky are both actors who meet on the Evening Show with Clint Barton. They fall for each other hard - as you'd expect - but things get in the way - though no one falls off any trains. </p><p>This is a tale involving motorcycles, cuddling, disgustingly cute emails, terrifying Russian actresses, heartbreak, snarky New Yorkers, ridiculously convoluted plots between interested parties, and maybe, just <i>maybe</i> love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nice to Meet You

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to [AustinB](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AustinB/) for being my beta, also to [angelbabe_cj](http://archiveofourown.org/users/angelbabe_cj) and [reynolds](http://archiveofourown.org/users/reynolds) for letting me prattle on at them incessently about this fic and dealing with me researching odd things and generally discussing two idiots in love a little too much.
> 
> The title comes from a song called [Indigo Home](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSsaNZhgGQ) by Roo Panes.
> 
> Finally, you can come yell at me on [Tumblr](http://buckingthebarnes.tumblr.com/) if you're such inclined.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky and and Steve meet on the set of the Evening Show with Clint Barton.

Bucky was nervous. He always got a nervous right before going on talk shows - not matter how often he did them, or how well his publicist said he did. There was always a gnawing worry in the back of his head telling him that he’d fuck up somehow, or make an idiot of himself, or even out himself. He took a steadying breath and shook his head. He was going to be on the Evening Show with Clint Barton - something he’d been on before. He got on fairly well with the host, and he knew logically that there was no reason for his palms to be sweating. And yet, they still were.

There was a beeping noise from his phone, and Bucky looked down at it - smiling fondly as he saw a message from Natasha. They’d been best friends ever since college, and co-stars after they’d starred in a movie called the Winter Soldier together five or so years ago, and it had become a little ritual of theirs to text before any press event they weren’t together at.

 **Nat:** Hey James, how’re your nerves?

 **Bucky:** You know you’re literally the only person who can get away with calling me James, right?

 **Nat:** Deflecting are we ;-)

 **Bucky:** I’m serious, I hate being called that!

 **Nat:** Deflect deflect deflect

 **Bucky:** Ugh you know me too well... Fine i’m nervous ok? I don’t know any of the ppl i’ll be out there with. I mean Pep says she knows them but...

 **Nat:** Pepper says you’re on with hot shot called Steve Rogers, I looked him up - he looks tasty to me

 **Bucky:** Thanks Natalia, just what I needed

 **Nat:** Also his co star, Sam Wilson. Also a tall glass of water I’d like to drink.

 **Bucky:** Anyone ever tell you ur all class?

 **Nat:** Break a leg, fella, and let me know if you hook up with the meatball

 **Bucky:** Hate u

 **Nat:** ;-)

Bucky rolled his eyes and shoved his phone deep into his pocket, just in time for a knock to sound on his door.

“Mr. Barnes,” the voice of one of the set assistants called. Kate… _something_? Bucky vaguely remembered it being chess themed. Rook, maybe? No! Bishop.

“It’s open,” he called, adjusting his suit slightly and pasting on a smile. From here on he was acting.

“Hi,” she said, opening the door and smiling prettily at him. “You’re welcome to come and sit in the Green Room if you’d like. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wilson have already gone out, but it’s easier for us to come and get you, plus you can watch what’s going on.”

She talked at a million miles a minute, and rather inexplicably made Bucky feel about a million years old - although he was only twenty-seven and she surely wasn’t _that_ much younger than him - five years at most. “Uh yeah sure,” Bucky replied, noting that he’d drifted off for a sec and she was looking at him expectantly. “Yeah that sounds fine.”

He stood and followed her out, listening as she chatted amicably to him about how they’d cue him to come out, and where he could sit. He thanked her and sunk into one of the comfortable blue sofas, making sure to flick the buttons of his suit jacket before doing so. He didn’t want to go on air looking rumpled - mainly because he knew his manager, Pepper, would chew him out for it more than anything else.

He looked over to the screen, noting that the irascible host was talking mainly to a gorgeous black man, when he noticed that Kate was still standing to the side, looking incredibly embarrassed. He quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly, and she blushed.

“Forget something,” he asked, dialing the charm up to eleven.

She blushed even more, and sighed, looking over to the backstage crew who were engaged in some sort of argument about the lighting. “Listen, this is incredibly unprofessional since, y’know I’m an intern and everything, but my girlfriend absolutely _adores_ you and she asked me very specifically on the grounds of ignoring me for a week that I try get your autograph and I-”

Bucky threw his head back and laughed, earning an odd look from some of the backstage crew who were still arguing on the other side of the room. Casually, he grabbed a pen from his inner pocket and then looked around for something to write on. “Have anything for me to scrawl my name on, kid,” he asked, some of his veneer dropping a little bit with how hilarious he was finding this situation. Usually he hated autographs, but he appreciated someone with a bit of moxie, and made a mental note to tell Natasha about it later.

“Here,” she replied, covertly pushing a folded piece of paper at him.

He grinned and took it, smoothing it out on the table in front of him. “Thanks, who’s it going to?” Oddly enough, this very bizarre occurrence had made him forget all about being nervous - something he could be nothing but grateful for.

“Oh it’s for America,” she replied. Bucky quirked an eyebrow at that, and she quirked one right back, earning her another grin. Quickly, shooting a glance at the argument that seemed to be veering towards a full on fist fight, he quickly sketched out a message and signed it. He leant back for a second and looked at it critically.

_”Dear America, your girlfriend risked life and limb to get you this autograph so I think she deserves some sugar. Bucky Barnes x”_

Kate made a noise like an animal being trodden on when she read it, clearly trying not to crack up. She quickly slipped it into her pocket and mouthed a ‘thank you’ at him, before squaring her shoulders and marching over to see what her colleagues were fighting over.

Bucky turned his attention back to the screen, where the host and another _highly_ attractive man were both laughing hysterically at something Tall, Dark and Blinding Smile from earlier had said. Bucky couldn’t help but notice that the other man - who he dubbed Tall, Blonde and Gorgeous - was holding his left boob as he leant forward to laugh.

After another minute or so of talking, the host turned to the camera and introduced the ad break. Bucky looked up as a crew member stalked over to him, only remembering to paste on a smile when she was nearly upon him. “Hi,” she said, in a rather businesslike tone. “Maria Hill, sorry about the uh, commotion back there.” She threw a look at the tall man standing to one side. “Sitwell and I had a disagreement about lighting. Anyway, if you follow me over here, you’ll be on in ninety seconds.”

Bucky nodded and stood up, taking a steadying breath. He followed her over to the side of the stage, grinning at the big thumbs up at that Kate - girlfriend of America - flashed him. This was going to be alright.

* * *

Steve always kind of hated these kind of things. He was always worried that he’d say something a little too stupid, or risque, or that his mouth would get away with him if the topic turned to something political. His agent, Tony, always despaired that you could take the boy out of Brooklyn, but you couldn’t take Brooklyn out of the boy. Steve of course, had always taken that as a compliment more than anything else.

“Dude, where are you,” Sam asked, forcing Steve out of his reverie with a sheepish smile. Barton was sitting back down after having been amusing the crowd during the ad break, and was being counted down by the stage manager.

“Sorry, just thinking,” Steve grinned, earning a chuckle from his cast mate.

“Guys we’re on,” Barton whispered as the stage manager counted towards zero, and right on cue he beamed into camera. “Our next guest is someone you might know from his time on the hit show Agents of Asgard, or the critically acclaimed Winter Soldier. But tonight he’s here to talk to us about his brand new movie Black Widow. Please welcome my friend, _Bucky Barnes_.”

There was a clash of music - something contemporary and jangling - and possibly the most beautiful man Steve had ever seen walked out, grinning widely and looking like sex on legs in a tight, dark grey suit with a skinny tie that drew Steve’s eyes _straight_ down to the snug trousers. With herculean effort, Steve snapped his eyes up and focused on the man - _Bucky’s_ \- face. He had the most ridiculous blue eyes, and gorgeous, slicked back hair, that Steve ached to run his fingers though, and his lips. Steve definitely wanted to do things to those lips.

“Hi how’s it going,” Bucky called jovially, pausing to wave at the crowd who were whistling and clapping loudly and appreciatively.

“Good, good buddy,” Barton said, jumping up from behind his desk to throw an arm around Bucky's shoulder and lead him over to Steve and Sam.

“Hi, how’s it going,” Bucky said, reaching to shake first Sam’s, then Steve’s hand, grinning winningly at both of them.

Sam gave the guy a genuine smile and nodded. “Good thanks man, and yourself?”

“Good, good,” Bucky replied, sinking into the free seat closest to Barton - and of course, right next to Steve. Steve shook his head for a sec and entered into actor mode, pasting on his usual goofy grin. He could sit next to the hot guy for ten minutes, he’d done things like this before. Plus, if he gave anything away, he’d never hear the end of it - particularly as Steve seemed to remember that Bucky’s manager was Tony’s wife.

He zoned back in because Barton had begun asking Bucky questions, and he found that he was kind of genuinely interested, and not just because the guy was hot.

“So you’re out here promoting your new film is that right,” Barton asked.

Bucky grinned and ran a hand through his hair - making Steve eternally grateful that he was sitting down so his knees couldn’t buckle. “Yeah uh huh,” he said in a smooth, calm voice. “Black Widow, out in theatres next week actually.”

“And this one has Widow as the main character, is that right?”

Bucky grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I get to play the damsel in distress in this one which I kinda got a kick out of. Plus I think my co-star Nat would say she was the main character in Winter Soldier as well, or at least the stand out.” Steve and Sam both laughed, and Bucky shot them both a genuine grin that made Steve’s stomach drop a bit.

Barton laughed as well, and glanced at the prompter behind them - made to look like he was looking at them even when he was reading. “Well you’ve apparently brought along a sneak peek for us to look at, do you mind setting it up?”

Bucky giggled, actually giggled, and Steve had to actively focus on keeping his cool. He felt Sam nudge him ever so slightly, and he knew that his friend had seen right through him. At least Sam was bribable though, some Chinese food and some beer was all Steve needed to buy his silence.

“Yeah so in this one, Widow has just come and rescued Soldier from a group of Russian mobsters, and now they’re fighting their way out, sassing one another to hell and back in the process.”

Barton joined Steve and Sam in laughing at the rather succinct comment before the clip rolled and the stage manager gave them thirty seconds. Steve was just thinking of something to say when Sam leaned across and smiled at Bucky. “How you doing man, it’s nice to meet you - loved, loved, loved the Winter Soldier.”

Steve internally cursed himself for the fact that he’d not actually gotten around to seeing it, and if the gorgeous man beside him was anything to go by, he thought he’d better rectify that rather quickly. Not that he had a crush of course, just because he appreciated a good movie.

Bucky grinned and nodded. “Yeah nice to meet you two as well. Pep mentioned that you guys were headed for big things,” he said, grinning and turning to look at Steve for a moment.

“Yeah,” Steve said, suddenly at a loss for words. “I remember Tony mentioning that you were managed by Pepper,” he finished lamely.

Bucky smiled easily and nodded, but further conversation was blocked by Barton, who having actually been watching the clip, focused back on the camera as the stage crew counted him in. “Well that certainly looked interesting,” he said, grinning mischievously at Bucky. “I’m sure the audience will definitely be on board with the fact that you were shirtless for that entire scene.”

Bucky laughed ruefully, running his hand through his hair again. “Yeah well you know, the poor guy just wanted to take a shower in peace when he got kidnapped by the damn mob and then Widow had to come rescue him.” He grinned again and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I mean it’s fairly par for the course with them I suppose.”

“And what did your co-star think of it?”

Bucky threw his head back and laughed, nearly setting Steve and Sam off as well. “Nat? She thought it was hilarious,” he replied with a slow smirk and an amused shake of his head. “We shot the scenes over a couple of days and she teased me every single second of it.”

“You two are good friends then?”

“Oh definitely,” he replied, looking over at Sam and Steve. “I don’t know how it is with you two but for me, you gotta bond with your co-stars if you want to survive a shoot.”

“Yeah you can say that again,” Steve laughed, punching Sam in the shoulder and earning him a wide grin from both Barton and Bucky.

“And plus I mean, the first ever scene we shot together was an action one, and she spent two days riding me like a mechanical bull, trying to choke me of some brainwashing,” Bucky continued. “You kinda have to be friends after that.”

Steve nearly blacked out at the thought of being in that position, but luckily Sam saved him by groaning theatrically. “I dunno man, I mean I can’t say I’d enjoy wrapping my legs around another guy but if I had to _choose_ ,” he said, pausing to slap Steve on the shoulder emphatically. “It’d probably be my boy Steve.”

Bucky’s eyes widened and lit up for a second, before he barked out a shout of laughter, and Steve felt himself going pink. “I can totally give you some tips if you’d like,” he said, leaning slightly closer to Steve. “It’s all in the way you uh, _hold_ yourself while the other person’s wrapping their legs around you.” He paused and tilted his head at Steve for a moment. “Of course you’re built a lot more than me so the leg wrapping could be a bit more challenging.”

Sam laughed even harder and Steve was pretty sure he wanted to die. Barton, thankfully, was right back into it. “Whoo,” he said, pretending to fan himself with his prompt cards. “That took an unexpected turn. Anyway, there’s quite a few fight scenes in the movie right, a lot of action.”

Bucky gave Steve one last grin and turned back to Barton. “Yeah, uh huh, there’s a uh- _ton_ of fighting sequences, but you know I’m a Brooklyn kid so I know how to throw a punch.” He turned and waved at the crowd - most of whom were cheering, what with the show being taped in New York and all.

Steve felt his own eyebrows shoot towards his hairline as he leant forward in surprise. He’d grown up in Williamsburg and while it was unlikely that he and Bucky would have ever crossed paths, it still instilled a strange sense of camaraderie for the other man in Steve’s chest. Barton picked up on this and winked at Steve. “That’s right, I forgot that you’re a New York boy. Because you’re ah, a New Yorker as well aren’t you Steve?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, I grew up in Williamsburg so you know, you learn how to take a beating.” He didn’t mention of course that he’d been tiny - barely five foot five and ninety pounds soaking wet until his junior year in high school, because really, that stuff had been chewed on by the media enough. Bucky for his part though, was looking at Steve with interest and nodded appreciatively. “Yeah, I grew up in Park Slope so not so far I guess.” Steve nodded, his mind wandering for a second to work out exactly what it would have been like if he’d known this gorgeous guy when he was a teen. Probably fucking horrible to be honest, Steve was bad enough around men and women now and had been far worse when he was younger.

The interview went back on track after that, and Barton - obviously deciding that he liked the chemistry between the three of them - made sure to pepper Bucky with enough questions that the other two could jump in on.

Finally, the interview ended and Steve had a chance to approach the other man in the Green Room.

“So uh, it was um, really nice meeting you,” Steve said, internally cursing his ineptitude, _Real fucking smooth, Rogers_ he thought to himself bitterly.

Bucky for his part, didn’t seem to particularly notice. His lips curled up slowly into a smirking smile, and his eyes twinkled. “Likewise,” he said, patting Steve on the shoulder. “Always nice to meet someone good on one of these things, makes the whole nerves thing easier to deal with.” He pulled a face and laughed ruefully, making Steve’s stomach drop again. “Last time I was here it was with Dame Judi Dench and Sharon Stone and they nearly ate me alive.”

Steve laughed and shook his head. “Oh man, I can’t even imagine.” He looked at Bucky again, and was trying to work out a discreet way to ask for his number, or email, _anything_ really, when Sam appeared behind them.

“Hey man, I hate to break this up,” he said, looking genuinely apologetic. “But we’ve gotta bounce if we want to make our flight to L.A.”

Bucky smirked and waved a hand at them. “Go, go, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again,” he said, taking his phone out and heading toward his dressing room.

“Seems like a nice guy,” Sam commented as he led the way out back and toward their waiting car. Steve sighed and nodded.


	2. Back and Forth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Natasha and Sam are both Good Bros™ and two idiots begin flirting. Sort of.

Bucky found it more or less impossible to shut up about Steve for days. The shy smile, the deep and sexy voice, the gorgeous body and deep blue eyes had been enough to nearly short circuit Bucky’s brain. Obviously, forcing himself to pay attention to an interview when he was sitting next to six foot two of pure sex had been rather difficult to say the least, and he’d been rather proud of himself for managing to do so. _Especially_ when Steve’s costar had made a comment about wrapping his legs around Steve. Bucky had definitely had to delicately readjust himself after that little comment.

He must have sighed, because Natasha looked up sharply from the couch where she was painting her toenails. They were sitting in Bucky’s brownstone in Brooklyn, the afternoon sun streaming through the windows, enjoying some downtime from their busy schedules to relax.

“You’re thinking about him again,” she accused, chucking a pillow at his head.

Rolling his eyes, he caught the pillow easily and hugged it to his chest as he looked out the window. “Can you blame me?” he retorted after a beat. “The man is absolutely gorgeous.”

“So _call him_ ,” Natasha said, pointing a finger at him imperiously. They’d had this conversation half a dozen times now, and Bucky still couldn’t give her an acceptable reason as to why he hadn’t gotten the other man’s number. The opportunity had been there, but Bucky hadn’t quite managed to psych himself up to take it when Sam had appeared to whisk Steve away.

“I’m such an idiot,” Bucky moaned, flinging himself backwards and smothering himself with the pillow.

“Yes, but what else is new,” Natasha retorted mercilessly.

Bucky moved the cushion slightly to eye her dolefully as she started on her other foot. “Why are you so unsupportive of me in my time of sorrow?”

She rolled her eyes again and gave him one of her patented scary looks - something that made him throw the cushion aside and sit up properly. “I am not being supportive because _you_ are being an idiot. Pepper is _married_ to his manager, get her to get his email or cell number.” Bucky opened his mouth to respond and she cut him off. “Before you say a _word_ , know that you deserve to go out with someone decent for once in your life and if you sabotage yourself again they will _never find your body_.”

Bucky huffed but finally nodded, annoyed that in the end Natasha could always win him over with threats of stupendous violence. She was kind of terrifying like that, but it came from a place of love, and Bucky appreciated that. He took out his phone and moved toward the Whatsapp app - Pepper was in Hong Kong for some reason - when an email came through. Curious, he opened the mail app and promptly nearly fell off the couch.

It was from Steve. 

>   
>  **From: brooklynkid89@gmail.com**  
>  **To: metalarmsolid@gmail.com**
> 
> Dear Bucky,
> 
> So I completely get how out of left field this email will be, but for reasons best not gone into Tony (Stark - my manager) cornered me this morning and gave me your email. Something I’m hoping you’re okay with?
> 
> Apparently we should get in touch because, and I quote “It’s good to have contacts in the industry. Especially ones who laugh at your lame jokes.”
> 
> So I basically just wanted to say how great it was to meet you the other night, and maybe next time I’m in New York we can catch up?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve (Rogers)
> 
> P.S. I didn’t want to admit it on the show, but I’d not actually got around to watching the Winter Soldier but it was really damn good.  
>    
> 

Bucky made a strangled, whale like noise and did actually slide off the couch. He had an email from Steve. _Steve_. Steve had also gotten his email from Tony, which of course meant Pepper had passed it on, which meant that… He narrowed his eyes and looked up at Natasha who’d actually jumped up in concern to stand over him.

“What’s wrong, is…” she paused and frowned at him. “Why are you looking at me like that? That’s _my_ death stare Barnes, don’t give it back to me it, freaks me out.”

“I just got an email,” he said, still staring at her beadily.

“Okay,” she responded slowly. “That doesn’t explain why I’m getting death stare number five.”

Bucky huffed out a breath and passed his phone to her, watching her face intently for any cues. She read through the (admittedly) short email fairly quickly, her eyebrows shooting up as she did so.

She sat down on the floor next to Bucky and gave him a look that she only ever brought out when they were away from the fans, and the cameras, and the spotlight; the one stripped of all the bullshit and sultriness that she wore like armor.

“He actually emailed you,” she said, bumping his shoulder with her own.

Bucky gave her a half grin, feeling slightly less sure of his suspicions. “What, you're not behind this?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Believe me, James, if I were behind this you would know because I'd be holding it over your head for the rest of your life. James Buchanan Barnes, international heartbreaker having to use _me_ to get a guy’s number.” She paused and pouted. “Actually, I’m a little disappointed that it wasn’t me now. That would’ve been fun.”

Bucky snorted and rolled his eyes at her, elbowing her gently in the side. “Like you don’t have enough dirt on me already.”

She gave a throaty chuckle and rested her head on his shoulder. “So what’re you going to send back?”

He frowned, biting his lip. “Should I wait, I mean I don’t want to come across as too keen…”

She lifted her head for a moment to whack him hard on the chest before laying her head back on his shoulder. “You were doing so well,” she sighed. “Just email him back, it’s a friendly email there’s no reason to buy into any of the heteronormative ‘waiting periods’ bullshit like a damn frat boy,” she added, making liberal use of sarcastic air quotes.

Bucky huffed out another sigh, but knew she was right. He grabbed his phone and tapped out a reply, editing and changing it a couple of times before finally finishing it and handing it to her for inspection. 

>   
>  **From: metalarmsolid@gmail.com**  
>  **To: brooklynkid89@gmail.com**
> 
> Hey Steve,
> 
> Nice to hear from you, pal.
> 
> I’m actually glad you emailed me, I was trying to work out a way to ask for your cell number or something the other night but then you and Sam had to beat it. Which is my way of saying I’m more than happy for you to email me.
> 
> Really, you need to tell Tony (Stark - your manager) that it’s not any trouble laughing at your jokes because you’re actually a funny guy.
> 
> I’d love to meet up with you - always nice to hang with someone from this end of town.
> 
> I’m a little offended that you’d never seen the cinematic masterpiece that is the Winter Soldier, but I’ll accept you watching it as penance. What’d you think? I actually sat down and watched a couple of your movies with my friend Natasha. I liked the one with the whipped cream the best ;)
> 
> Bucky  
>    
> 

Nat looked up at him and smirked so hard that Bucky could almost hear it. “Are you flirting with him,” she crowed delightedly. “Why James Buchanan I do _declare_! I take back everything I’ve ever said about you not having a spine. For today at least.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone back from her with a huff. “Geez Nat, you’re all heart.”

He hovered his thumb over the send button, suddenly gnawed with doubts. Was it too flirty, was the whipped cream comment too much? He didn’t want to come on too flirty if Steve was just looking for a friend. Natasha snapped him out of it by poking him in the stomach.

“The email’s good, James. Just send the damn thing. We promised Skye we’d watch the latest episode of her show, and we’re seeing her tonight at the gala.”

Bucky nodded mutely and pressed send, hauling himself up onto the couch as Natasha navigated the hard drive for the recording. He looked down at his phone again and shrugged, throwing it onto the cushion to his right as Nat curled up beside him and pressed play.

They were almost done with the episode - a fun, if idiotic one about a hacker taking on a secret, super high-tech spy agency - when Bucky’s phone chimed. He felt a warm feeling grow in his chest as he picked up his phone and saw a notification from Steven Rogers. Completely ignoring the rest of the episode he quickly opened the message to read it. 

>   
>  **From: brooklynkid89@gmail.com**  
>  **To: metalarmsolid@gmail.com**
> 
> Hey Bucky,
> 
> It’s really nice to hear back from you too. I was kinda worried I’d come off a bit weird, but definitely good to hear from you. I said that already. Moving on.
> 
> I think I’m back in New York next wednesday and thursday if that works for you? Sam’s going down to D.C. to see his ma, so I can promise you that he won’t be there to interrupt you asking me anything else.
> 
> I’m sorry I hadn’t seen it before Buck. I like acting, but it’s a little hard to go to the movies sometimes you know? I get a bit weird about being recognized when I’m trying to do normal stuff. I guess it’s not too bad when I’m in LA though. Plus I think I was working on Nomad up in B.C. during its entire run. I definitely liked it though! The metal arm was really cool, and the chemistry between your character and Widow was awesome. I liked that it wasn’t romantic - made it more interesting.
> 
> I’d also like to point out that I was young when I made that damn movie, Bucky. I needed the money okay. They asked me to walk around with whipped cream covering my nipples in a scene and I thought ‘sure why not.’ I’d also like to add that you were pretty much shirtless for long sections of Winter Soldier so, glass houses, Buck.
> 
> Not that I minded.
> 
> Let me know about next week.
> 
> Steve  
>    
> 

Bucky made a surprised little noise at the back of his throat and grinned, ignoring the questioning look that Natasha sent him. Still smiling, he began to tap out a reply.

* * *

Steve glared at Sam, who was doubled over on the floor, laughing his freaking ass off.

“It’s not funny Sam,” he said, for what felt like the seventh time. Steve had finally emailed Bucky that morning, after Sam had done a little bit of meddling and sweet talked an email address out of Tony. Apparently, Sam had decided that there was only so much discussion of another man’s hair, eyes, stubble, and lips that he could handle before he sprung into action.

The exchange had been going really well until Steve had made the mistake of asking for Sam’s advice on the wording of something. Sam, being Sam, had snatched the tablet out of Steve’s hands and written a rather blush-inducing addition to Steve’s thoughtfully worded prose.

Steve had taken one look at it and given an emphatic no. Sam had argued that telling Bucky that Sam would be in DC so he could spend all Wednesday and Thursday in bed with Steve would have gotten right down to the point. Steve had argued that Sam probably wouldn’t die if he pushed him out the window of their rented apartment. A tussle had ensued and eventually Steve had agreed to put something in, and Sam had acquiesced to it not being overtly sexual.

The rest of the message had been fine until Sam had stolen the tablet while Steve went and got a glass of water in an effort to kill some time before replying (and not look painfully eager) and added four words towards the end.

Sam was still laughing and shaking his head. “It is funny dude. In fact it’s hilarious.” He picked himself up and splayed himself across the couch, still grinning. “You were clearly flirting, I just thought adding ‘Not that I minded’ might push things along.”

Steve groaned and sunk into the love seat across from him. “He’s going to think I’m a creep,” he complained. Sam cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at him. “Dude, you’ve been talking about his mouth and his hair and any manner of sexy things about him for days. You _are_ a bit creepy.”

Steve laughed despite himself. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up tough guy. I don’t seem to remember you being this smooth when you were trying to woo T’Challa.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “Ohhh, is that how it is?”

“Oh that’s how it is,” Steve smirked back.

Sam shook his head and the two of them went back to focusing on reading through some scripts Tony had sent them that morning. Sam was flicking through his quickly, while Steve took his time and made sure to take some notes. They were in Seattle, on another leg of their publicity tour and Steve was enjoying the downtime.

Steve was so focused that he didn’t immediately notice the chime from his tablet until Sam pointed it out. “Man, you usually dive for that if you thought there was a chance it might be from Bucky.”

Steve blushed, and picked it up, deciding to not mention to Sam that he’d set an alert for when Bucky emailed him. 

>   
>  **From: metalarmsolid@gmail.com**  
>  **To: brooklynkid89@gmail.com**
> 
> Hey Steve,
> 
> I’m glad you’re glad I was glad. Don’t make me think too much about that sentence, my head will explode.
> 
> I’m actually miraculously free next Thursday so we should definitely meet up! There’s this great burger joint up in Williamsburg, or yeah, there’s some great places over in Manhattan. Completely happy to be led by you to be honest. Also, not that Sam doesn’t seem like a swell guy but it’d definitely be nice to chat to you without any interruptions, or ya know, a studio audience.
> 
> I’m glad you liked the movie! The metal arm was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. I had to put on some much lube to shove it in there - a process made a shitload more difficult by the fact that my co stars Nat and Bobbi alternatively giggled like school girls, or provided moans for the props. It was great.
> 
> Hey now pal, there’s no need to get defensive. The uh… cinematographic importance of you wandering around with whipped cream covering your chest and junk was obviously incredibly important. I for one salute the director for making the decision to include it in his film. I definitely appreciated it.
> 
> Of course, it’s nice to know that you appreciated my scenes too. Maybe we can talk about it on Thursday? You know, as actors. All professional-like ;)
> 
> Speaking of, as nice as emailing is how about you text me instead? Nat’s dragging me as her plus one to this ‘Women in the Arts’ gala because I look damn fine in a suit and she doesn’t want to be hit on by anyone’s husband. Again. I could definitely use a texting conversation. My number’s 347-555-0131.
> 
> Talk to you soon, hot stuff.
> 
> Bucky  
>    
> 

Steve read the message and then re-read it several times, a goofy grin spreading across his face. Bucky had _flirted_. It was too early to tell if it was serious flirting, or the result of too many days spent on the promotions trail and boredom, but Steve would definitely take it.

“Dude, gimme something I’m dying over here,” Sam complained, forcing a grin out of him. Nonchalantly, Steve shrugged and pushed the tablet over for Sam to inspect - taking no small amount of pleasure at the way his friend’s eyebrows slowly shot up.

“So you think I should text him,” Steve asked, already getting up and heading to the kitchen to retrieve his phone from where it was charging.

“Dude if you don’t text him _I_ will. The guy has mad flirting skills. I could get behind that.”

Steve rolled his eyes and snatched the tablet out of Sam’s hands so he could enter Bucky’s number in his phone. He smiled once it was done, and looked up at Sam who had the biggest shit eating grin in the world. “What,” Steve barked, epically failing to hide a smile.

“Did you put love hearts around his name, please tell me you did.”

“No Sam, I’m nearly twenty-seven, not seventeen.”

Before he lost his nerve, he shot off a text to Bucky, and grinned when he got a reply almost instantly.

 **Steve:** Hey Bucky, it’s Steve.

 **Bucky:** Stevie, thanks for texting back :)

Steve smiled down at his phone fondly, ignoring the snort from Sam.

 **Steve:** So, ‘hot stuff’ really?

 **Bucky:** Oh I’m sorry sir, do you need help finding the whipped cream?

 **Steve:** Sure, I can drop you off some lube on the way.

 **Bucky:** Well now, that sounds like a much better evening than standing around in a tux. You and Sam have fun with that

 **Steve:** What? No no no. Nope. Sam and I are definitely not like that.

 **Bucky:** Huh, good to know ;) I’m being bullied into a hair appointment but I’ll text later

Steve sighed happily and went back to script reading and ribbing with Sam. There was a certain rhythm to the way they hung out - especially when they were thrown together to promote things. They’d been friends for years now - since they’d met in Tony’s offices - and with everything that Steve had gone through during his childhood and into adulthood, it’d been nice to make a friend.

He leant over to say so, when Sam looked up at him and laughed. “I still can’t believe he called you hot stuff.” Steve chuckled and shrugged.

It was a couple of hours later, coming back from the gym when Bucky messaged Steve again.

 **Bucky:** Hey Steve sorry I didn’t text much, who knew fighting three women away from cutting your hair could be so draining

 **Steve:** Haha, I’m glad they didn’t. I kinda like your hair.

 **Bucky:** Really?

 **Steve:** Yeah, it looked really good the other night. I liked it in Winter Soldier when it was long as well.

 **Bucky:** You say that… Nat said it made me look like a drug addicted hipster. Especially when I wore a man bun just to piss her off

 **Steve:** Please tell me you have photos

 **Bucky:** We’ll see hot shot, we’ll see

Steve grinned and settled back into the sofa. Maybe he could do this whole thing after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, thank you all so much for reading. I made a couple of slight changes to the first chapter - namely how Bucky and Natasha met - because what was meant to be like five chapters of meet cute has transformed into something a lot more.
> 
> I'll try and update with a chapter hopefully twice but definitely once a week - depending on how life is going.


	3. Kiss and Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Natasha and Bobbi are helpful, a few tidbits of the past are revealed, and two idiots go on a date.

Bucky was nervous. He wasn’t entirely sure _why_ he was nervous, given that he’d been on his fair share of dates over the years, but there it was. He was nervous. He looked down at the green button down he’d just put on and wrinkled his nose - he wasn’t sure it was first date material - or indeed if this _was_ actually a first date. He wanted it to be one, but he wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that Steve wanted it to be.

He was shaken from his musings by a firm knock on his door. Bucky narrowed his eyes as he padded out of his bedroom and down the stairs to the front door. He hadn’t invited anyone over, especially since he was meant to be leaving to meet Steve in about half an hour. He also hadn’t told his sisters about the… whatever this was going to be, so it couldn’t have been Carol, Darcy or Rebecca. That, combined with past experiences told him who the likely culprit would be. Sure enough, he opened it to find Natasha and their friend Bobbi grinning at him.

“Hey fella, we’re here to help,” Natasha said with a sultry wink.

“Natasha, no,” he said, shaking his head emphatically while also trying to stifle a grin.

“Natasha yes,” Natasha replied, pushing past him and flinging her shoes off at the door before disappearing upstairs.

Bucky rolled his eyes and hugged Bobbi, who was looking vastly amused. “Hi gorgeous,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. While Bucky had actually met Natasha during college, Bobbi Morse had come into their lives when she'd been cast in the role of Mockingbird in the Winter Soldier. She and Natasha had spent about three days circling one another warily before one day they’d gone out for dinner with the production team, gotten into a bar fight, then woken him at two o’clock in the morning to go and get ice cream. They'd been firm friends ever since.

“Hey Buck,” she replied, also pushing her shoes off. “We thought we’d come and give you some moral and/or fashion support,” she added, shutting the door behind her and following him as he walked up the stairs, bracing for the horrors that Natasha had no doubt waged on his wardrobe.

When they reached his bedroom, Natasha was already in his walk-in closet, chucking things towards the bed. “Oh god, Chanel attack,” Bobbi cried, ducking to avoid a shirt sailing through the air.

“Natalia, what are you doing,” Bucky asked, sinking down onto a love seat out of the range of fire and pulling Bobbi to safety with him.

“I am finding you an outfit that says ‘I want you to lose all control and fuck me in the alley behind the restaurant,” she called back, her tone clearly indicating that the answer should have been obvious.

“Oh well, sure,” he replied, feeling himself go slightly pink at _that_ particular thought. He blinked, trying to clear the thought of Steve crowding him against an alley wall and biting into his neck as he lifted- no, Bucky needed to snap out of it. “Wait, I mean no. This isn’t even a real date, probably.”

“So,” Bobbi challenged, clearly amused. “A good outfit should convey that anyway.” She paused and cocked her head thoughtfully. “Well I mean, that or maybe ‘I am here to kill you and there is nothing you can do to stop me’ or possibly ‘you are my bitch now’ but you get the point.”

“Exactly, listen to the smart and delightfully terrifying woman,” Natasha agreed, still flinging things at the bed.

“You’re both terrifying,” Bucky moaned, dropping his head into his hands and wondering what he did wrong to have these two terrifying creatures for his best friends. “Normal friends send encouraging texts you know? Maybe let the person going on the date send a few outfit choices to the squad text-”

“Don’t say squad,” Bobbi interrupted, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

“My point,” Bucky said, pausing to flip her off with a grin. “Is that-”

“Is that we’re not ‘normal’ friends,” Natasha replied, a blue button down that Bucky had forgotten he owned tucked under her arms so she could have full use of her hands for sarcastic air quotes. “We’re better. Besides, don’t give me any of that not a real date crap, James. You’ve been basically cyber fucking since last week. It’s been positively pornographic. I’ve had to have a cigarette after reading some of the delightfully filthy things you and Mr. All American have sent each other.”

“Unghhhh,” Bucky groaned, burying his head in his hands again. He’d been trying to play it cool, but flirting came far too naturally to him, plus Steve was just so perfect.

Bobbi patted him on the shoulders gently. “There there, Bucky.”

“So I think you should wear this one,” Natasha said, waiting a moment for Bucky to regain his composure. “It’ll really bring out your eyes.”

Bucky looked up at the long-sleeved dark denim button down she was holding, and tilted his head. It did actually look quite good, and if he paired it with some tight jeans and boots… “Fine,” he sighed, getting up and taking the proffered shirt. He pulled off his current shirt and put the new one on, ignoring the whoops from the girls. He turned and looked in the mirror, pleasantly surprised by the effect. He slicked his hair back and smiled, which of course was the exact moment that Bobbi chose to throw a pair of combat boots at him, nearly braining him in the process. “Thanks, Bob,” he said, glaring at her and rubbing the arm where one of the boots had hit him.

“You’re welcome, _Jamie_ ,” she replied, utterly unrepentant.

Bucky chuckled and grabbed a pair of socks and put the boots on, taking his time to make sure they were properly laced. “Well,” he asked, standing up giving them a twirl.

Natasha’s eyes were sparkling as she nodded approvingly. “You look like you’re going to fuck someone’s brains out.”

“Or have them fucked out of you,” Bobbi added.

“Or both,” Natasha added, smirking.

“You’re right, both is definitely better,” Bobbi deadpanned. “Let’s not be judgemental of anyone’s preferences here.”

“Yes,” Natasha agreed. “That is _definitely_ an outfit that says take me off so sex can happen in a wide array of interesting positions and for a toe-curlingly long amount of time.”

“Thanks, I think,” Bucky laughed. He was actually secretly pleased - while neither of them pulled any punches when it came to telling you that you looked bad, they always did their best to prop their friends up when they needed it.

“You’re welcome dear,” Bobbi said, settling down on the bed. “So tell us about your date- sorry, ‘not date’ then?”

Bucky rolled his eyes at her but walked over and flung himself onto the bed, eliciting squeals from both of them in the process. “We’re going to that awesome burger place I found with Nat last week, and then out for a drink afterwards.”

Natasha and Bobbi exchanged a long look. “And what, fancy burgers and drinks don’t constitute a date, _how_ exactly,” Natasha asked.

Bucky frowned and sat up, hugging a pillow to his chest. “I… Well I mean… I guess…” he looked at the knowing expressions on their faces and groaned. “Oh shut up.”

“So the question is, why are you scared of this being a date?” Bobbi asked. Bucky groaned again, Bobbi had a way of cutting through all Bucky’s bullshit and getting to the core of the problem. In hindsight, that was probably part of the reason Natasha had brought Bobbi along, since Bucky had been avoiding the subject all week.

He sighed and got off the bed to put some more product in his hair. “I guess I’m just worried it’ll end up like Pierce,” he said softly, knowing he couldn’t really avoid the question without the threat of massive physical violence being brought upon his person. He turned around to see both of them with particularly dark looks on their faces - Alexander Pierce was an older director that Bucky had dated for a couple of years when he was younger, and while the relationship had been good initially… things hadn’t ended well. Pierce was part of the reason Bucky lived in New York rather than L.A. and he knew that given half the chance, both Bobbi and Natasha would gladly take turns beating the man into a bloody pulp.

“Not every man you meet is going to be Pierce,” Natasha said finally, coming over to hug him from behind.

“I know,” Bucky replied, turning around so he could hug her back. “I just get scared sometimes.”

Bobbi leapt off the bed gracefully and came to join the hug. “You’re allowed. Besides, you smell suspiciously amazing and it would be a shame to waste something like that by thinking about a shitstain like Pierce.”

Bucky’s brain short fused for a moment, utterly marvelling at the sheer audacity of her non sequitur. Then he began to laugh, and once he started he couldn’t stop. All the nervous, wound-up energy he’d been keeping inside for the last few days poured out into the laugh, and he was fairly sure he sounded slightly alarming because they were both staring at him wide eyed. That of course, only made him laugh harder, until Bobbi broke and began laughing too. It was only a matter of time before she and Bucky sank to the floor, nearly sobbing with laughter while Natasha looked at them with an air of someone utterly nonplussed - though the corners of her lips were tugging dangerously. Eventually, even her olympic self control broke, and she sank to the floor and laughed with them.

“Oh god,” Bucky gasped, his stomach muscles aching from laughter.

“That wasn’t even _funny_ Bucky, fuck you,” Bobbi moaned, taking a shallow breath.

“Yes well,” Natasha said primly, rising to a crouch. “Wouldn’t US Weekly love this, three gorgeous actors laughing on the floor of a Brooklyn brownstone.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and Bobbi hooked her foot behind Natasha’s ankle, pulling her back to the heap on the floor. “I’m sure they’d invent something juicy,” Bucky said with a grin.

“Winter Soldier babes in sordid love triangle, turn to page six for details,” Bobbi said expansively, helping Bucky and Natasha to their feet.

Bucky snorted and rolled his eyes as he walked over to his bed to begin gathering clothes and putting them back in his closet. After a moment of intense, brain-twin level synchronised eye rolling at his penchant for neatness, Bobbi and Natasha began to help.

“So when’s he getting here, or are you meeting at the restaurant?” Bobbi asked once they’d finished tidying up, automatically helping Bucky in the process of herding Natasha out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

“Oh I’m meeting him at the restaurant,” Bucky replied with a shrug, plonking himself down on one of the couches in the living room.

Natasha made a show of looking at her watch as she sat down next to him. “You’re cutting it a bit fine seeing as your bike’s up at Darcy’s in Boston.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’ll get a cab, smartass.”

Bobbi cleared her throat, and they both looked over at her. “Shouldn’t we let him go to his date,” she asked, hooking a booted foot over one knee.

Bucky grinned and mouthed a ‘thank you’ at her, which she returned with a near imperceptible wink. Natasha, for her part pouted. “But it’ll take, forever to get back to the Upper West.”

“Then we’ll do some shopping on the way,” Bobbi suggested with a shrug, already standing.

Natasha got up, still pouting. “I still like the idea of trailing them and covertly watching their date.”

Bucky felt his mouth drop open in horror. “I said _no_ to that Nat,” Bobbi admonished, pointing a manicured finger at Natasha’s chest.

“I soundly second that,” Bucky agreed, frowning at Natasha. She’d done it to him before and he was very much not a fan of receiving running commentary on his erstwhile date’s manners, conversation topics, and aggregated attractiveness from someone he couldn’t see.

Natasha sighed lustily. “You never let me have any fun,” she said sadly. “I’d let you do it to me.”

Bobbi and Bucky exchanged an amused glance. “No, you’d murder us in our sleep if we did it to you,” Bucky corrected, leading them to the front door.

“Only if I caught you,” Natasha disagreed.

“Say goodbye, Nat,” Bobbi said, leaning forward to kiss Bucky on the cheek.

“Tell us how the date went,” Natasha said instead, poking Bucky in the stomach so he’d lean down to accept a kiss on the cheek. “And remember if things go south, text ‘ripe peaches’ and I will come and behead someone.”

Bucky snorted and nodded. “Love you both,” he called as they headed out to find a cab - Bobbi having obviously decided that it wasn’t worth putting her faith in Natasha’s preternatural ability to always find parking wherever she went.

Bucky sighed and leant against the door for a moment, trying to hold onto the sense of surety seeing his friends had brought him. He huffed out a sigh and padded around the house for a couple of minutes - getting his wallet, and keys, and having a last minute moment of agonizing indecision about which cologne to wear.

In the end, he left the house right on schedule, shooting a quick text off to Steve to say he was on his way, and then somehow even managed hail down a cab practically outside his front door. He spent most of the journey staring out the window, thinking about Steve, smiling like an idiot.

He didn’t immediately realize they’d arrived at their destination until the cab driver cleared his throat, giving Bucky a deeply amused look. Bucky blushed and handed over the fare. “Thanks,” he muttered, as he stepped onto the sidewalk and came face to face with Steve.

Steve, standing in front of the restaurant and grinning at Bucky. Steve in a pair of tight jeans and a dark blue button down with the sleeves carelessly rolled up to his elbows in a way that nearly made Bucky whine out loud.

“Hey,” Bucky said, breaking out into a grin despite himself.

“Hey,” Steve replied, his answering grin nearly melting Bucky into the pavement. He was fucked. He was oh so very fucked.

* * *

Steve arrived for the date early. At least he hoped it was a date. He’d spent a rather long time annoying the ever-loving crap out of Sam, Peggy and Sharon about whether or not this was indeed a date. In the end, Sam had gone for a run, Sharon had put on some headphones, and Peggy had archly asked whether he’d been this scattered when _they’d_ dated. Once he’d admitted that he had in fact been this nervous, she’d taken pity on him and convinced him that Bucky’s flirting very clearly meant it was a date.

The sound of a street busker distracted Steve for a minute or two, until he reached into his pocket to check his phone again. He had a dreadful and probably ridiculous fear that Bucky was going to call to cancel, or... No. He didn't need to go down that road, it was stupid and... There was Bucky.

Bucky slid out of the cab, blushing at something the cab driver had said, and Steve was fairly sure he'd never wanted to kiss anyone as much as he did right now, because he looked like heaven. He smiled at Steve and somewhere in the back of his mind was a voice informing him that if he could kiss those lips he’d never want to kiss any others ever again.

“Hey,” Bucky said, his grin nearly blinding Steve.

“Hey,” Steve replied, breaking out into a grin of his own.

They stood there staring at one another for a moment, until Bucky apparently shook himself and laughed. “Sorry, right. Food? Let’s go eat some burgers.”

Steve snickered and followed Bucky into the diner. They sat across from one another and there was a slightly awkward silence as they perused the menus. Steve felt the will to live slowly but surely leaving his body with each second of silence, but Bucky seemed to be utterly and unfairly unaffected.

“So what’re you having?” Bucky asked, putting his menu down and grinning at Steve.

Steve looked down at the menu and grinned. “I was thinking a cheese and bacon burger, chili fries, and a cookie dough milkshake,” he hazarded.

Bucky’s grin grew wider. “A man that can eat, I like it.”

Steve felt himself blushing again, and cursed his complexion for betraying him in his time of need. “So uh, how did you find this place?”

Bucky shrugged easily. “Nat and I stumbled across it last week when she made me come shopping with her,” he said, picking up his fork and twirling it absently. “I’m still not entirely sure I didn’t actually conjure it into existence through the sheer power of my hangover.”

Steve chuckled and nodded. “Any particular occasion, or just…?”

Bucky dropped the fork and blushed, carefully putting it back in its rightful place. “The shopping? Natasha needs no excuse to buy shoes.”

“I meant the drinking,” Steve said, rolling his eyes.

Bucky’s expression darkened for a split second, before he snapped his smile back on. “It was just…” he grimaced. “I bumped into someone I didn’t want to, and then my sister Carol had a fight with her husband and it seemed like a brilliant idea to involve whiskey in the discussion.”

Steve felt himself flush with mortification. “Oh I uh- I didn’t-”

Bucky grinned and reached across the table to touch Steve’s hand for a moment, sending a warm current of electricity through him. “Don’t be a dope, pal. You had no way of knowing.”

“Did you just call me a dope?” Steve asked, his eyebrows lifting.

“What are you gonna do about it, huh?”

Steve grinned and opened his mouth to reply when the waitress appeared to take their orders. She looked at them both with a frown for a moment, and Steve ducked his head to look down at his menu, hoping she wouldn’t cause a scene. The last thing he wanted to do on a possible-maybe date was have to take a bunch of selfies or sign some autographs. Luckily, the waitress just smiled and took their orders.

Once she was gone, Steve looked up to see Bucky giving him a deeply amused look. “You’re so damn cute, all hiding your head and shit? We should’ve got you a baseball cap and some geek glasses.”

Steve rolled his eyes and gave Bucky an extra strong dose of what Sam affectionately called his ‘dude, really?’ look. “I just wanna enjoy my meal, why’re you busting my chops, huh?”

“You’re a punk, do you know that,” Bucky said with a smirk that made Steve’s chest tighten.

“Yeah, well you’re a jerk,” Steve retorted.

Bucky grinned and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Part of the reason I live in New York is that they tend to give much less of a fuck about seeing someone famous. So we should be cool.”

Steve grinned and shrugged. “I know, I know, I just… I’m on a date with a-” he stopped, blushing furiously.

“So this is a date, huh,” Bucky asked, his eyes twinkling. “I was hoping it was.”

Steve took a breath and grinned. “Well y’know, I didn’t wanna jump the gun or anything.”

Bucky smirked at him. “Buddy, you definitely don’t need to worry about that.”

Steve was saved from answering by the arrival of their food. As they ate, the conversation turned slowly to more mundane things, and Steve discovered some interesting things about Bucky. He discovered for example that Bucky had a brother and three sisters, loved extra pepperoni on his pizza, tended to get mouthy when he was stressed, had a thing for blondes and Italian food, hated football, and had met Natasha while studying at the Yale School of Drama.

Bucky had just finished regaling Steve with the story of how he and Natasha had actually met - she’d asked him out because all the girls on her floor had been in love with him, he’d said no and laughed out of nervousness, she’d punched him, he’d come out to her, and they’d skipped getting to know one another and become best friends.

They left the restaurant and found themselves a quiet corner in a ridiculous hipster bar half a block away. They sat together at a table with their overpriced craft beers and talked and talked, their knees touching occasionally. Bucky’s smiles were warm and slow and somehow, without really trying they seemed to fill in some of the holes in Steve’s chest.

So he talked. Steve told Bucky things he couldn’t remember talking about in a long time. He told him about being small and sickly as a child, about getting into fights with the neighborhood bullies, and about dealing with his father’s death. He told him about getting into UCLA, and meeting Peggy at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in his year abroad, and about coming to realize that he loved acting. He told Bucky about meeting Sam, and his mother dying in his Junior year, and about how he didn’t come back to New York after the funeral for three years.

He talked so much that he felt like a dam had been broken with a torrent of words flowing forth. He was almost embarrassed by it all, but Bucky just sat there and listened; laughing and commiserating where necessary, and in one case, threatening to have Natasha use her scary Russian connections to have someone killed.

In the end, Steve drove Bucky home on his motorbike. The way Bucky moved with Steve into bends and turns spoke of an experienced hand, and Steve definitely couldn’t fault how good it felt to have the other man’s arms wrapped firmly around his waist. They reached Bucky’s place and Steve took a moment to stare up at it.

“I can’t believe you own a fucking house, this is ridiculous,” Steve said after a moment.

Bucky laughed and shrugged. “Don’t look at me, I wanted an apartment, but Natasha and my sisters bullied me into buying this. ‘Blah blah appreciation’ and ‘blah blah mom will love it’ and I gave in. I _do_ get to have my own gym next to my bedroom though.”

“Oh a home gym, never would have thought of one of those,” Steve replied, getting off his bike and suddenly finding that he could only look at his feet.

“I had a great time tonight,” Bucky said softly, suddenly standing right in front of Steve.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied, his voice coming out a little rougher than he’d have liked.

Bucky looked at him intently for a minute, and then he smiled in a way that made Steve feel suddenly warm all over. “Let’s do this again soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “I’d like that. I guess I should uh get going, I have an early flight,”

Bucky’s eyes widened ever so slightly, but he nodded and turned away. “I’ll text or call you, yeah?”

Steve watched him hurry up the stairs, berating himself for not moving in for the kiss. Still cursing, he turned to get back on his bike, already composing an apology text when Bucky was suddenly back beside him.

“I forgot this,” Bucky said, leaning forward and bringing his lips to Steve’s. Steve was frozen for what seemed like an age, before his body took over and he returned the kiss with a groan. He wrapped an arm around Bucky’s waist, pulling him closer while settling his other hand at the base of the other man’s jaw. Bucky for his part clung to the back of Steve’s neck like it was the only thing left in the word. The kiss was slow, and deliberate, and overwhelmingly good. They kissed like they had all the time in the world and every inclination of doing this forever. Eventually though, they broke apart - both of them taking steadying breaths - and Steve stared at Bucky’s perfect lips for a second before looking him in the eye.

“I’m glad you remembered that,” he said hoarsely. “I woulda hated to have left without it.”

Bucky grinned and kissed him quickly on the lips again. “Talk to you soon,” he said, hurrying up the stairs.

“Definitely,” Steve called.

As he drove back to his hotel, he was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be able to wipe the grin off his face for at least a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks so much for reading! All your kudos and comments are love. I'm not track with the next chapter so there will be another one by the end of the week.


	4. Falling Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky is happy, Natasha is annoyed, Steve is a little shit, the ramifications of some conniving come to a head, and we meet Pepper and Tony.

Bucky had intended to sleep in on Friday morning. He figured he’d had a successful date the night before - _very_ successful if the kiss at the end of the night was any inclination to go by - and that it shouldn’t have been a big ask of the universe to let him catch an extra hour or two of shut eye.

Natasha Romanoff apparently didn’t get the memo, because it was eight o’clock in the morning when Bucky’s phone rang and honestly, he didn’t feel he deserve to be treated like this. He looked at the phone dolefully for a second, knowing that if he didn’t answer she’d ring again, or possibly send some sort of search party out for him.

He groaned and pulled the phone off its charger and answered it. “Why are you calling me so early?”

There was a pause at the other end that seemed to convey an entire universe of amusement. “My,” Natasha remarked, “someone’s grumpy. I thought the stick up your ass would have been replaced by Steve’s big-”

“Oh my god,” Bucky cut her off, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting up. “Nat it was a _first date_.”

Her laugh was wicked and utterly unrepentant. “So how’d it go?”

Bucky felt himself smile, and he exhaled slowly. “We had food, and then we sat in a bar for three and a half hours and talked. It was pretty great actually.”

He could almost hear her roll her eyes at him. “Grandpa, what am I going to do with you? You _talked_? At this rate you’ll end up healthily dating him instead of having hot, dirty sex and sneaking out his window.”

“Well yeah, Nat. That would actually be pretty nice,” he suggested, pinching the bridge of his nose. “As weird as that may sound.”

“You do remember that I knew you in college right,” she replied, before pausing to order something in French. “You used to climb out windows like it was a fucking sport.” She paused again and said something else in French.

Bucky squinted in confusion for a moment. “Okay where the hell are you?”

She snorted contemptuously. “Paris, obviously.”

“Oh well, sure,” he replied. “I guess since you were in New York fourteen hours ago it makes perfect sense that you’d be in freaking France.”

“I got cast in a perfume commercial, and they decided last minute that they wanted me to be in Paris,” she said, giving an irritated little huff. “But enough about me, more about you. You didn’t screw him - which is a good sign - and your voice went all dreamy when you mentioned talking. Was there a kiss goodnight?”

Bucky smiled and nodded, despite the fact that she couldn’t see him - although he wouldn’t put it past her to have installed cameras around his home. “Yeah, there was,” he said casually. “We both got a bit nervous I think and it almost didn’t happen, then I ran down and kissed him.” He smiled again, feeling himself go warm at the memory. “The man definitely knows how to kiss you breathless, that’s for sure.” There was a long pause in which Natasha said nothing, and Bucky said with a furrowed brow. “Nat, are you there?”

“Sorry,” she replied. “I was fighting an overwhelming urge to make an excited squealing noise, which obviously I had to repress.”

Bucky chuckled and nodded - Natasha didn’t do girly. “I mean obviously, you have your cool factor to maintain.”

“Exactly, also if I made a squealing noise I’d have to kill you and you’re kind of my best friend so it would be inconveniencing for me.”

“Oh sure,” he agreed idly, getting out of bed and pulling a pair of sweatpants on. “I mean, I can totally see why that would be annoying for you.”

There was a pause while a someone said something in French to her in an annoyed voice, and she agreed. The conversation grew increasingly frigid as a third man joined the conversation. Bucky took the time to wander downstairs and begin brewing some coffee, leaving his phone on loudspeaker on the kitchen counter. “Sorry,” she said after a while. “Jean-Luc and I just had to explain why I wouldn’t be wearing nipple tassels for a perfume ad. Apparently we’re obstructing the director’s vision - which considering he’s already propositioned me - should be abundantly clear.”

Bucky bristled at the idea of his friend being treated like she didn’t have any agency. “You should get him fired,” he suggested at bit sharper than he intended.

“By the looks of the conversation happening outside the café, that may actually be happening.”

“Good,” he huffed, still angry at a man he’d never even met. “See if you can kick him for me.”

“So, have you called him yet?” Natasha asked, obviously intent on keeping the conversation heading toward a Steve-based trajectory come hell or high water.

Bucky snorted and gestured uselessly. “Considering you literally woke me up, no I haven’t.”

“You should get on that, James,” she admonished. “I’m going to hang up and let you do just that.” Bucky frowned. “What, Nat you-” the line went dead. “My friends are all drama queens,” he muttered, taking his phone from his ear. He gave a little start when he looked down and realised that he’d received a message during the phone call.

 **Steve:** Hey Buck, I hope your morning’s going okay!

Bucky grinned fondly and plonked himself down at the kitchen table.

 **Bucky:** Much better now I’ve heard from you tbh, how’re you hot stuff?

 **Steve:** Oh you know just got to the hotel in Toronto. I was bored and figured that I’d wake you up.

 **Bucky:** No such luck pal, Nat already did that by calling me up to see how our date went. Apparently during some sort of business meeting in Paris because Natasha

 **Steve:** Is she for real?

 **Steve:** And what did you say about our date?

 **Bucky:** Yep, definitely for real. I told her that it went really well, and that we talked for hours and then you dropped me home and I kissed you

 **Steve:** It was a pretty amazing date, I gotta admit. I definitely liked the kiss too.

 **Bucky:** We should do it again

 **Steve:** The date or the kiss, Buck?

 **Bucky:** Yes

 **Steve:** Both?

 **Bucky:** Yeah hot stuff, both

 **Steve:** Well okay then, let’s do it again.

 **Bucky:** Anytime you want me, I’m yours

 **Steve:** Jesus Buck, you can’t just say that to a guy!

 **Bucky:** I like to live on the edge ;)

 **Steve:** We’ll have to work out something soon then.

Bucky grinned down at the message for a minute, trying to convince himself to calm down. It didn’t work.

His morning passed by in a fairly standard fashion. He went out for some breakfast, went to the his personal trainer to talk about bulking up for his next role, read some scripts that Pepper had been bugging him about, mediated an intercontinental dispute between Bobbi and Natasha about salmon puffs, and messaged back and forth with Steve.

He had just sat down to eat lunch and binge watch something questionable on T.V. when his phone rang. He puffed out a sigh and picked up the phone, though his annoyance dropped considerably when he noted that it was Pepper. She’d taken both he and Nat on several years ago after approaching Natasha and being told rather bluntly that she’d only sign on if Bucky came too. This of course, had been rather confusing for Bucky when Pepper had contacted him with some auditions out of the blue, because Natasha hadn’t actually gotten around to informing him that he had a manager. In the end though, they found Pepper to be warm, efficient, and mildly sardonic when faced with bullshit - and the partnership had worked.

“Pepper, hey,” he said, answering the phone.

“Bucky,” she replied, her smile clear even over the phone. “Do you have a second? God knows you’re probably about to watch something horrendous.”

“You know me far, far too well,” he retorted, double checking that he’d properly paused his episode of Escape to the Country.

“I know,” she replied simply. “Anyway, I just wanted to call and see how your week has been?”

“It’s been great actually,” he answered. “I’ve gotten over the jetlag from the international openings, and I’ve been doing promotional stuff on the East Coast. Hell, I even managed to snag yesterday and today off, so it’s been good.”

“Mmm,” she nodded, shuffling some papers. “I’m glad, you two work yourselves way too hard sometimes. Natasha’s in Paris for god’s sake.” There was a pause in which he chuckled and she got her papers in order. “Anyway, I thought I’d tell you that the critics have been really happy with Widow. It’s had good returns internationally and it open domestically tonight, so you’ll probably be asked to do some interviews. I’ll get Gwen to handle the PR on that side.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, grimacing a little bit. He didn’t like looking at reviews and box office results too much, but he knew they were important. As usual he’d been putting off reading the reviews for as long as possible, so he hadn’t caught anything that had been said. “Any reviews I should know about?”

Pepper sighed. “Not really - there was a few snarky comments from the more sexist spectrum questioning the realism of two women rescuing a man-” Bucky snorted. “Yes, quite. Otherwise Scott Summers from the New York Bulletin said you made him question his sexual orientation, Betty Brant from the Daily Bugle said Bobbi and Nat made her question hers, and the Centreville Globe gave it four and a half stars.”

Bucky let out a long breath, feeling some of the tension from his neck and shoulders drain away. “Good,” he breathed, his relief clear enough that she chuckled quietly. “Oh and hey, thanks for giving my email to Steve, I had dinner with him last night.”

There was a long, pregnant pause. “I’m sorry?” she asked, clearly taken aback.

It was Bucky’s turn to pause, wondering why she seemed so confused. She wasn’t above meddling so she wasn’t acting. “Steve Rogers? I met him last week on Clint Barton’s show? You gave Tony my email to give to him.”

There was another long pause, and Bucky was beginning to freak out. “I really didn’t,” she sighed after a moment. “I mean don’t get me wrong I would have been happy to put you two in contact - and we’ll discuss your date later because the thought of you two on a date is incredibly cute.”

“I sense there’s a but coming,” Bucky murmured, beginning to get an inkling of what had happened from various stories and his own interactions with Pepper’s husband.

“But I’m going to have to go and murder my husband for hacking into my emails. Again,” she agreed, a hint of steel in her voice. “I’ll get Wanda to handle the PR guys from the studio, and she’ll call or email you later about interviews, okay?”

“Have fun,” he singsonged, and got a snort in return before the line went dead.

“Well,” Bucky snorted to himself. “Well, well, well.”

* * *

Steve stared out over the Los Angeles skyline, deep in thought. He was in Tony Stark’s office, vaguely listening while Tony and Rhodey bickered with a studio lawyer about the latest contract revision that they’d sent through.

He knew he probably shouldn’t be as indifferent to the process as he currently was, but he’d been finding himself getting a little distracted lately. No matter what he was doing or where he was he found that his mind tended to wander toward Bucky, and the amazing date they’d had last week. Sam said this was because he had a one-track mind, but Steve had to disagree. His mind had many tracks, they just all seemed to lead Bucky-wards.

He felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled out his phone to see a message from the man in question.

 **Bucky:** So Cap, any news on the imminent murder of your dearly beloved manager :D

Steve snorted and looked over his shoulder at Tony, who returned the look with a sardonic eyebrow raise. Bucky had told him over the weekend that Pepper Potts hadn’t actually given Tony Bucky’s email, and that Tony had simply taken it for himself. No one who knew Tony should have been the least bit surprised by this, but he and Bucky had entered into a betting pool with Natasha (who had bullied Bucky into making a group chat for the three of them) to see when Pepper would pull the rug out from under the man’s feet.

 **Steve:** Nothing that I’m aware of. I feel like Tony would be whining at me if it’d happened already.

 **Natasha:** It better not be today, I don’t wanna have to make this asshole a shit fuck of pelmeni and medovik

 **Bucky:** You could always wear the ‘I am the Prettiest Princess’ shirt

 **Natasha:** No.

 **Steve:** I still think -you- should wear it Buck.

 **Natasha:** Rogers, you are my favorite

 **Bucky:** I can’t believe u betrayed me like this Rogers. I thought I meant more than this to u

 **Steve:** Sorry Buck, I’ve switched allegiances in a cheap marketing ploy.

 **Natasha:** You are such a geek Rogers, I love it

 **Steve:** :D

“Does that sound alright, Steve,” Tony asked, causing Steve to jump slightly and put his phone down. He turned to find Tony and Rhodey smirking at him, and the lawyer looking a little flustered.

“I honestly wasn’t listening,” he replied with a shrug and an apologetic smile.

“No, of course you weren’t,” Tony smirked. He turned and looked at the lawyer. “Come back to us when you’ve got something worth listening to, hmmm?”

Steve watched the man sigh, collect his things and leave. “We’ll be in touch,” he said, before being led away by one of Tony’s terrifyingly efficient assistants.

“Where’s your head, man?” Rhodey asked, clearly amused.

“Oh you know, I just have some stuff on my mind,” Steve replied rather lamely.

Tony’s eyes twinkled as he leant back into his chair. “Yeah, absolutely, _stuff_ ,” he teased. “Stuff being a six foot tall brunette you met on a talk show, right?”

Steve flushed despite himself, and Rhodey furrowed his brow for a second. “Wait don’t tell me, you were on Barton’s show a couple of weeks ago with that Barnes guy?”

“Yeah,” Steve shrugged. “We kinda hit it off.”

“I think uh, ‘hit it off’ might be an understatement. He was like a love sick Puppy I heard,” Tony said expansively to Rhodey. “I decided it was my god given duty to play Cupid.”

Rhodey gave Tony a long look, before looking at Steve despairingly. “Did he get you both in a room naked somehow, because that is _not_ what I classify as a cute meet.”

Tony gasped. “That was _one time_. We were in college. Anyway, no, I got Prince Charming over here his crush’s email - I know, I know, so 1997 and-” he paused as Steve’s lips twitched. “Well, how _is_ it going?”

Steve was saved from having to answer by JARVIS, Tony’s terrifyingly advanced AI/private assistant. “Apologies for interrupting sir, but Ms. Potts is on the line for you. She seemed insistent on talking to you while Mr. Rogers was here.”

“Oh no,” Tony replied. “I’ll uh, take this one on the handset.”

Steve’s lips twitched again, and Rhodey eyed him warily. “Trouble,” he mouthed at Steve, who gave an exaggerated shrug in reply.

“Pepper, honey hi-” Tony began, brightly. “Well I mean I wouldn’t… Okay well yes… No… Pepper, hacking is such an _ugly_ word… Well I would prefer proactive acquisition of data… No… Yes… Yes I did… Pepper, baby-”

Steve had begun to laugh quietly, and Rhodey looked torn between concern and amusement. Steve casually took his phone out of his pocket, and re-entered the group chat.

 **Steve:** I have a feeling that Pepper has decided to blow this popsicle stand and confront Tony.

 **Natasha:** FUCK!

 **Steve** : Language!

 **Bucky** : Yeah, that was a swear Natalia. Time to put some money in the swear jar

 **Natasha:** You are both dead to me.

Steve grinned and pocketed his phone as Tony finished his conversation with his wife.

“What did you _do_?” Rhodey asked, his voice tinged with very obvious amusement.

“I may have um, procured loverboy here his new flame’s email by slightly nefarious means.”

“He hacked Pepper’s email,” Steve explained. Both Tony and Rhodey blinked at him. “What? Bucky and I worked it out last week.”

Tony sighed. “You didn’t think to mention it to me?”

Steve gave his very best shit eating grin. “I wouldn’t want to rob her of the opportunity to discuss it with you, Tony.”

Rhodey cracked up laughing, and Steve felt his own grin growing wider. Tony looked irritated for a moment, but he couldn’t keep it up for long, eventually breaking out into a wry smile of his own. “I feel like you don’t deserve this now, but we’ve been contacted by Fury and his team about signing you on to a new franchise.” He smirked at Steve’s expression and continued. “Multiple movie deals, year's worth of work. It’s some sort of… Superhero franchise? They’ve already made two films and they’re thinking of expanding it.”

“I… What?” Steve asked uncertainly.

“Really, this is beautiful,” Tony crowed. “Really, his expression - it’s great. Totally worth sleeping on the couch now.”

Rhodey gave Tony a quelling look and leaned forward. “They’re thinking of doing some individual movies and then sort of slotting everything together.”

Steve sat back, a little bit blown away. “Why do they want me? I don’t have to audition?”

Tony shrugged, pulling up an email on his computer. “Said he liked your work in _1944_ and _Howling Commandos_. Apparently that’s all the audition the man needs.”

“I… Okay,” he replied, still feeling a bit numb. He’d done big things before but this was in a whole new ball park. For a moment he vaguely remembered Bucky and Nat had mentioned plans with SHIELD Studios to make some sort of interconnected cinematic universe with some of the films they’d already made - Winter Soldier and Black Widow being two of them as well as two amazing films called Black Panther and Storm - and he wondered if this would be in the same thing. “Do I need to read scripts or something?” he finally asked weakly.

Tony grinned and nodded. “They’re sending you something in the mail - just a rough draft you know, Fury needs to get a whole lot of ducks in a row. They’ll send you more stuff later I’m sure.”

“Thanks Tony,” Steve answered, smiling. The prospect made him nervous, but he wanted to do this - _had_ to do this. He didn’t back down from things easily. “That’s a yes, by the way.” He got up and grabbed his satchel, looking at his manager inquiringly.

Tony waved his hand in assent. “I figured. Oh, and Cap? Make sure you go on a date with tall, dark, and brooding? It’ll make Pep happy and get her off my case.”

Steve grinned and shrugged. “Already two steps ahead of ya Tony.” He winked at the look of delicious shock on Tony’s face and walked out, the sound of Rhodey’s delighted laughter following him down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone!


	5. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky is ambushed with _feelings_ (also his sisters), and Steve deals with the affections of his friends with grace and dignity. Also there is quite a lot of flirting. Seriously, so much.

Bucky’s self-preservation instincts kicked in suddenly and without warning about three weeks after the Date - as his friends had begun calling it. He was sitting in his living room watching a documentary on biotic arms, and studiously ignoring a discussion between Bobbi and Natasha via text about where they were going to eat in London that weekend when his doorbell rang. He narrowed his eyes as he wandered towards the front door - he really wished people would stop showing up unannounced. Natasha and Bobbi were in Genosha and Montreal respectively, so it couldn’t be either of them and he wasn’t really close enough to anyone else which meant…

“James Buchanan Barnes open this damn door immediately,” his sister Carol’s voice called through the door.

“Fuck,” Bucky muttered, looking around wildly to see if he could escape.

He felt a buzz in his pocket, and pulled out his phone see a text message from his brother.

 **George:** Darcy just texted me to tell me that they’re coming to visit you man, get out. Go go go!

 **Bucky:** I so dont need this today

 **George:** If I wasnt in Chicago you know I’d hide you bro

Bucky pocketed the phone with a grimace. “Oh _fuck_ this,” he muttered again.

“We know you’re here, asshole,” Darcy’s voice called.

Bucky looked down at what he was wearing - black boxers peeking above grey sweatpants and huffed out an annoyed breath. He opened the door to find all three of his sisters staring at him beadily.

“Behold,” Darcy said after a pause in which all three of them took in his half dressed state critically. “The glamorous lifestyle of a movie star.”

Bucky snorted again and moved forward to hug them. “What are you all doing here?”

“Wow, can you feel the love? _I_ can feel the love,” Becca said, pushing past him and moving into the living room to sit down.

“Why are you so grumpy, James? Not getting enough sleep?” Carol asked, also pushing past him and walking through the living room and central parlor and into the kitchen.

He turned to look at Darcy pointedly. “What, you couldn’t have warned me so I could at least put on some clothes before being ambushed?”

Darcy gave him a wide, lazy smile and shrugged. “I needed an excuse to head down from school anyway, and this seemed a good one.”

Bucky sighed disgustedly and padded through to the kitchen to find Carol making coffee. “Your coffee maker is shit, do you know that?”

Bucky shrugged and pulled some mugs down from the cupboard where he kept them. “I’m not here enough to have a ridiculous monstrosity like you do.”

Carol snorted, and turned to look at him with the same eyes he saw every morning in the mirror. “Hey, that monstrosity is the reason I don’t pack up your niece and nephew to come live with you here.”

“Bullshit,” Becca called from the living room.

“Yeah C, you promised that your children would never grow up in Brooklyn,” Darcy added.

Bucky’s lips twitched - it was nice for someone other than him to be the target of sisterly ribbing, though of course he wasn’t stupid enough to think it would last. With that in mind, he grabbed an old t-shirt from the back of a chair and shrugged it on and gave his sister a long look. “I repeat my earlier question: why are you here?”

“We just thought we’d come check on you,” Darcy said, her eye roll obvious without Bucky even having to look at her.

“Yeah, except you should be up at Harvard, Becca should be in school, and Carol should be working on whatever Pulitzer prize-winning story she’s cooking up next,” Bucky replied.

Carol glowered at him and handed him two mugs, which he carried back into the living room without question.

“Just tell him,” Darcy sighed.

“No _you_ tell him,” Becca shot back, flaring up as she always did when one of her siblings told her to do, well, anything really.

“Children,” Carol admonished in an acidic tone.

“Tell me what,” Bucky asked, choosing the armchair and tucking his feet under himself in much the same way that Darcy and Becca were doing across from him.

“You had a date, dumbass,” Becca supplied sullenly, after spectacularly losing a silent three-way battle of the wills.

Bucky stared at the three of them, nonplussed. “I know,” he said finally. “I mean, I was kinda there?”

Darcy threw her head back and laughed, eliciting an annoyed look from Carol. “You’re not even going to deny it,” Carol asked.

Bucky shrugged. “No? I mean I’m kinda curious as to how you know when only like… What, nine other people know, but then you only know three of ‘em including me so…”

“Nat,” Darcy replied simply.

“Yeah, Nat,” Becca agreed.

“Definitely Nat,” Carol finished.

Bucky grinned and shrugged. “Yeah that figures.” He took a sip from his coffee, and looked up to find all three of them staring at him. “What?”

“You didn’t tell us you were going on a date with Steve _freaking_ Rogers, that’s what,” Darcy huffed at him.

He shrugged in response. “It was a date, I don’t generally tell you guys I’m dating someone until it’s actually a thing that’s happening.”

“Bullshit,” Becca coughed.

Bucky frowned at her. “Why aren’t you in school anyway, kid?”

“Because we’re concerned,” Becca tried, studiously avoiding his eyes.

Bucky looked over at Carol, feeling himself growing more irritated with every passing moment. “Are you three literally here to hold an intervention?”

“We’re here because this is your first relationship since Alex-” Carol started.

“Don’t,” Bucky warned, feeling the tension rise in his chest. He didn’t want to talk about his ex, he didn’t want to think about having to move nearly two and a half thousand miles to get away from- no. He looked at his sisters defiantly. “This isn’t about Pierce.”

“Yes Jamie, it is,” Carol replied gently.

“Carol I don’t-” Bucky started with a frustrated groan. He hated when they did this to him. He didn’t need to discuss every single feeling he had.

“Why won’t you talk about this,” Darcy asked quietly.

“Because I’ve been on _one_ date with the guy, yeah we text back and forth and he’s cute but I’m not ready to-”

“You mean you’re scared,” Darcy pressed.

“Darcy I swear to god,” he muttered. Of all his siblings, he and Darcy tended to get on the best, so he felt more than a little annoyed that she was taking part in what was clearly turning into an emotional ambush.

“You’re scared that it’s going to end up like it did with Pierce,” Becca said in a quiet, but clear voice. “That’s why you haven’t told us about it.”

“Kid, drop it,” Bucky snapped, glowering at her. Of course, eighteen years of experience meant that the Barnes Family Death Glare made absolutely no discernable impact on her in the slightest, but it made Bucky feel better so he chalked it down to a draw.

“She makes a point,” Carol pressed, frowning at him in a maternal fashion.

Bucky didn’t mean to, but the pushing and prodding finally opened a dam in his chest. “FINE, YES I’M TERRIFIED OKAY? DOES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY? God! Why the fuck did you three come here, to bash me over the head with this?”

Carol sighed. “No, we came here because we don’t want you to push something good away. God knows no one in this family has a good track record of stopping ourselves from doing that, but I’ll be fucking damned if my little brother does it.”

Bucky blinked at her several times. “What are you talking about?”

“You had a date like three weeks ago, and since then nothing,” Darcy replied smoothly. “Nat told us.”

He looked at them somewhat uncertainly. He’d spoken to Steve basically every day since the date. “We’re both busy.”

“Bullshit, you’re stinking fucking rich go fly and see him,” Darcy pressed.

His frown deepened.“It’s not that-”

“You’re meeting up with Nat and Bobbi in fucking London,” Becca picked up smoothly. “You told me that the other day.”

“I’m doing a commercial?”

Carol had apparently reached boiling point because she was suddenly standing, her voice shaking with repressed rage. “JAMES BARNES, STOP MAKING EXCUSES. IF I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO BE UNHAPPY AND ALONE THEN I’D LEAVE IT, BUT I KNOW YOU DON’T-”

“OH MY GOD!” Bucky stalked away, feeling tears prick the corner of his eyes. He stood over the sink breathing heavily. He was vaguely aware of Darcy admonishing Carol and Becca in the background.

Eventually, Carol came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. “Look, I’m sorry we sprung this on you but we just want you to be happy, okay?”

Bucky sighed, and turned around into Carol’s hug to face them - three of the four horsewomen of the apocalypse, Bucky’s grandfather had always called them. “I get it, I just… I don’t want to talk about it now okay?”

Darcy gave him a long look. “We’ll lay off if you go on another date with him.”

Bucky huffed out a sigh. “Deal.”

“And then you can tell us all about the first date,” Carol said firmly.

“Was it dreamy?” Becca asked, a goofy smile taking over her face. “He looks like he’d be dreamy to date.”

Bucky laughed and joined them in the kitchen.

*

Carol and Becca left about seven o’clock that evening - and even then only because Winifred Barnes called to tartly ask her eldest daughter if she planned on collecting her children any time soon. Darcy, for her part opted to stay at Bucky’s because apparently there was only so much maternal nagging she could actually take before she snapped.

They sat in front of the TV in companionable silence, sharing something that according to Darcy was actually a culinary monstrosity masquerading as a pizza. Bucky wasn’t really a purist, and anything with two sauces, a dozen toppings, and enough cheese types to take down a lactose-intolerant from thirty paces was definitely okay in his book. With a slight snort, he thought of Steve and his strongly stated feelings on pizza.

“Hey, hold up the pizza and smile,” Bucky ordered.

Darcy gave him an amused look and complied. “Why?”

“Because you are my favorite sister and because I’m teasing Steve with our pizza,” Bucky replied, snapping the picture and grinning.

“Jamie, are you using me to flirt? I thought we were done with this when you finished high school.”

Bucky shrugged and smirked.

 **Bucky:** Hey hot stuff, just thought you’d like to see our dinner for the evening

 **Steve:** Buck, how could you do that to me? I thought you were better than this.

 **Bucky:** I guess I lapse when there’s no big strapping men around to teach me the proper pizza ways.

 **Steve:** I really should do something about that.

 **Bucky:** Yeah, you really should

He looked up at Darcy who was watching him hawkishly. He made a face and then sighed. “Okay so I know today wasn’t my finest moment, but I did actually hear what you guys were saying.”

She sat up and gave him a worried look. “Okay that was left field, what’s happening? Do I need to wrestle that phone away from you because I will do it Bucky - you know I will.”

Bucky smirked - his sisters only ever called him Bucky when they were stressed or worried about him. “Relax kid, I’m asking him for a second date.”

He ignored the noise she made - which rather resembled a golden retriever being let free into a field filled with tennis balls - and looked down at his phone and read Steve’s latest message.

 **Steve:** You know there’s some fairly decent pizza places in LA?

 **Bucky:** Yeah? How about you take me to one next week? I have to swing that way to see Pepper about some stuff

 **Steve:** You’d really like that?

 **Bucky:** Did I not show you how much I liked our last date? Because let me tell you buddy, I liked it a lot. Especially the bit at the end where we made out

 **Steve:** Yeah, that was one of my favorite things too.

 **Bucky:** Only one of them?

 **Steve:** Maybe I’ll tell you about the rest when I see you?

 **Bucky:** I think maybe I’d like that a lot, Steve

Bucky smiled, and gave Darcy a lazy thumbs up. In the end, they didn’t really do much with their night, but Bucky couldn’t really say that he minded all that much.

* * *

The problem with his friends, Steve thought, was that they weren’t actually very good at hearing the word no. Sure, they backed off if you shouted or if you made it clear that whatever they were doing was genuinely distressing to you, but otherwise? Otherwise his friends could be kind of dicks.

“Give me the passcode, Steven,” Peggy said crisply, dancing away from him with his phone clutched to her chest. “I want to see what messages Bucky’s sent you.”

Steve puffed out an annoyed breath and gave her the sternest look he could muster. “No. Give it back, Peg.”

“Not a chance,” she shot back.

Steve groaned and held out his hand pleadingly. “Peggy please, I just want to see the damn text from the guy I’m dating okay? Can you let me have that one fucking thing?”

Peggy blinked at him several times, apparently taken back - either by the fact that he’d actually sworn, or by the intensity of his expression. She deposited the phone back in his outstretched hand, though the twinkle never left her eye. “But you’ll show it to me after, right?”

“Girl, that’s the way you’re going to find yourself facing a dick pic,” Sam said wisely, entering the kitchen with his arms full of groceries, followed a second later by Sharon - who was, in a way that had never been adequately explained, Peggy’s niece.

Peggy made a face, and Sharon laughed easily. “Ask to look at sexts between two men and eventually you’ll see a dick, Peg.”

Steve was ever so slightly horrified. “Pretty damn sure if Buck did send me a uh,” he felt his cheeks growing hot at the thought, “a picture like that, I wouldn’t share it with anyone. That’s not right.”

Sam laughed and clapped Steve on the back. “See, my man Steve, always doing the right thing - even when it relates to other guys’ junk.”

“Did you get everything for dinner?” Peggy asked, apparently keen to change the subject.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Yes _mom_ I did,” he replied, grinning at her impishly. “I also got q-tips Steve because we needed them.”

Steve grinned and kissed Peggy, then Sharon on the cheek as he walked out of the kitchen - laughing quietly at Sam’s complaints that _he_ didn’t get a kiss on the cheek. That was probably Steve’s favorite thing about living with Sam: always having someone to make him laugh. He sat down at the kitchen table and took out his phone.

 **Steve:** Hey handsome, how’s London?

 **Bucky:** Hey gorgeous, London is pretty great actually. Nat’s dragging us around to all the tourist spots and demanding that we take selfies...

 **Steve:** Make sure you avoid Leicester Square whatever you do.

 **Bucky:** Ah, I see you’ve been here before

 **Steve:** For a year during college, remember?

 **Bucky:** Oh that’s right. Now I get to imagine earnest student Steve being all cute and awkward

 **Steve:** How about you think about me calling you a jerk?

 **Bucky:** Only if you think about me calling you a punk ;)

 **Bucky:** Zhou on fm c

 **Steve:** Bucky?

 **Bucky:** You two are sickening - Natasha

 **Steve:** ...

 **Bucky:** Ignore Natasha, she’s dead inside. You two are cute as fuck - Bobbi

 **Steve:** Hi guys?

 **Bucky:** Those two are dead to me.

 **Steve:** ANYWAY, I was letting you know I made reservations for us for next week?

 **Bucky:** You are adorable, also a dork… you are adorkable

 **Steve:** Is that a good thing?

 **Bucky:** Fuck yes

 **Bucky:** About to head into the ground to get trapped in a metal box so talk soon?

 **Steve:** Enjoy the tube, Buck.

Steve smiled and put the phone away. He looked up, and flushed when he realized that Sam, Peggy and Sharon were all standing nearby, looking at him with vast amusement.

“Bro, you could’ve walked a marching band through here and you wouldn’t’ve even noticed,” Sam said, vaulting over the couch across from Steve and sinking down into it.

“It’s adorable, you’re actually grinning down at your phone,” Sharon said, dropping into the seat next to him.

“Leave him alone,” Peggy ordered, though the wicked grin on her face clearly indicated that neither she nor his other friends had any real intention of doing so.

“What can I say, I like the guy,” Steve said, trying his best not to sound defensive.

“Honey, you look like you want to crawl through the screen and give him a massive hug,” Peggy said, grinning and settling next to Sam.

“Or something else,” Sharon sing-songed.

“Sharon!” Peggy cried, failing miserably to stifle a smile.

“Oh no, he definitely wants to give him something else,” Sam agreed. “I found his sketchbook. The guy has it bad.”

“Aw jeez,” Steve muttered, feeling himself flush again. “Sam we talked about you looking through my stuff.”

“Man, you left it sitting on the kitchen table - open and everything!”

“Love, boys. Love,” Sharon said soothingly,

“So why haven’t we met this guy yet?” Peggy asked, ever the one to keep an interrogation moving forward.

Steve chuckled and settled into his seat. It was clear he wasn’t going to escape this conversation short of actually physically leaving, and even then… No, the best thing was to just deal with the ribbing as best he could. “Well I mean, he lives in New York, so he can’t just come over to watch the game.”

“Really?” Sharon asked, an eyebrow arching upwards. “I feel like watching sports would be the least of my concerns if I was dating a guy like that.”

“His girl pal Natasha lives in New York too, I think,” Sam said, perhaps a little too quickly, because both Sharon and Peggy turned their gazes on him.

“Yeah, she lives in Manhattan, Buck lives in Brooklyn. They say the travel time means that when they’re angry with each other they have time to cool down,” Steve said with a smirk in Sam’s direction. “Apparently by the time they get to whoever’s house they’re over it and they just go for ice cream instead.”

Peggy gave Steve a long, penetrating look. “How on earth do you know that?”

Steve shrugged. “I’ve been absorbed into The Horde, apparently.”

“The horde?” Sharon asked, lifting her eyebrows again.

Sam let out a sigh. “It’s the name of the group chat he’s in with Bucky and Nat, and their friend Bobbi Morse.”

“Oh I’ve met her,” Sharon replied with a smile. In Steve’s experience, everyone seemed to either love Bobbi, or be terrified of her - there wasn’t really any in between.

“So have I,” Peggy agreed, before looking intently at Sam. “But why the face?”

“Sam wants to be added to The Horde so he can flirt with Nat,” Steve explained casually.

“Aw, why’d you have to come for me like that, man?” Sam asked, eyeing the delighted looks on Sharon and Peggy’s faces with trepidation.

Steve gave his best grin and shrugged. “If I’m gonna be roasted, it’s always nice to have someone to share it with.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Thanks, you’re a real friend.”

Steve grinned and shrugged. “Well, you can’t have everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, folks. Bear with it, the next few chapters are gonna be good!


	6. Doing Something Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky is sick, Bobbi looks after him, and then the idiots go on their date. Also, there is kissing. 
> 
> Seriously, so much kissing. Like wow.

Bucky was sick. There were many things about Bucky Barnes which were admirable, or at the very least, pleasant and enjoyable. He could be charming (when he wanted to be), he was good with children, he tended to remembered his lines, and he always had his friends’ backs in a fight. The way he dealt with being sick however, was definitely not one of his admirable qualities. His mother had always said that it was because he had too much energy, and being cooped up made him short tempered and grouchy. His brother George had always maintained that it was because he was a little shit who didn’t like the feeling of being sick. Bucky had always privately thought that George’s view was the correct one - not that he’d ever told him that.

Regardless, Bucky was sick. He’d developed a sore throat in London, and the transatlantic crossing hadn’t improved matters much. His mood had steadily deteriorated over Sunday evening until by Monday morning he was feeling utterly sorry for himself. He’d complained at length to Steve, Natasha and Bobbi - though not all at once because they’d added Sam to the group chat and he’d decided to get the measure of the man before unleashing his whiney side on him. If he weren’t so irritable, Bucky would have found Sam’s and Natasha’s blatant flirting hilarious, but he was sick so he didn’t.

The doorbell rang and Bucky jumped. People seriously needed to stop visiting him without at least shooting off a text first. He looked down at himself and winced - all he was wearing was a pair of boxers. With a sigh, he wrapped his comforter around himself and stomped down the stairs to the front door and found an utterly unfazed delivery girl waiting for him.

“Hi,” she said, quirking a single eyebrow at his lack of clothing. Bucky turned away slightly to cough a couple of times and faced her again. “Sorry,” he said in a nasally voice. “I didn’t actually order any food?”

She shrugged and took out the receipt. “Says here it was paid for by an S. Rogers to be delivered to a J. Barnes?”

He blinked, and then smiled goofily - a warm feeling spreading through his chest. Steve had bought him food? _Steve had bought him food._ Considering the fact that his last partner would have simply rolled his eyes at Bucky’s sickness, this was almost too much t handle. “Oh, Oh! Well uh, thanks!”

She smirked at him and handed over the bag. “There you go.”

Bucky took it and nodded dumbly for a sec. “Oh! Wait I’ll get you a tip-”

She shook her head. “Brother, your homeboy tipped an extra fifty bucks for me to deliver this so you’re all good.” She paused and gave him another smirk. “Maybe go lay down or something honey, because you look like shit.”

Bucky laughed and nodded. “Thanks,” he called as she headed down the stairs and jumped on her motorcycle.

He took his prize through to the living room and spread it out on the coffee table. Inside there was: three massive containers of chicken noodle soup, three thermoses containing honey lemon drink, apple green tea, and ginger tea respectively, and another massive container of the most ridiculously chocolatey brownies Bucky had ever laid eyes on. In short, the perfect things to send someone fighting a cold.

Grinning to himself, Bucky pottered into the kitchen and put two of the soups and the teas in the fridge along with most of the brownies, before heading back to the couch to eat some of his soup. He groaned as he shoveled it down, enjoying the plentiful amounts of garlic and ginger. Eventually, after consuming about half the soup, he set it aside and flailed about in his blankets until he found his phone.

**Bucky:** You bought me soup, that’s so nice!

**Steve:** Hey, you’re sick and I want you fighting fit for our date on Friday.

**Bucky:** Oh I see how it is, you don’t really care about me at all - you just want me better so I don’t get you sick when I kiss the fuck outta you

**Steve:** Something like that yeah.

**Bucky:** :D

**Steve:** So did you like it? I got it from the restaurant near where I grew up. The owners an old friend of my moms.

**Bucky:** It’s fucking delicious I just inhaled like half the soup and like a quarter of the lemon honey drink stuff

**Steve:** Good! I can’t wait to see you on Friday (even if you are still snotty)

**Bucky:** Wow Stevie, you really know how to compliment a guy

**Steve:** I’ll try and get better ;)

**Bucky:** So… awkward question time?

**Steve:** Sure Buck, go ahead.

**Bucky:** Us dating isn’t going to be a problem right?

**Steve:** Why would it?

**Bucky:** Well… you’re not exactly out?

**Steve:** I’m not in either, I’ve just not dated a guy since getting in the business.

**Bucky:** So I won’t scare you off?

**Steve:** Definitely not, I’m not going to not go on a date with you because I’m not out.

**Bucky:** What?

**Steve:** Yeah that wasn’t very clear… I want to go on a date with you, Bucky. The other stuff doesn’t matter.

**Bucky:** Good :D

Bucky sat back and let out a long sigh. Natasha had done a little digging and informed a (somewhat annoyed) Bucky that Steve had only ever been linked to women by the tabloids. Bucky for his part had been out of the closet for so long that the media was completely used to the idea, but he was painfully aware of just much of a toll the media fallout could be.

Still, Steve had said that it would be fine and Bucky was slightly embarrassed about how much calmer that made him feel. If he were being completely honest with himself, he would admit that he was falling pretty hard for the man. Not that he was ready to admit that of course, but it was there in the back of his mind. In fact, he and Steve had taken to video calling each other every couple of nights - usually just before Bucky went to bed - and Bucky’s new favorite thing to do was make Steve lose his train of thought by smiling.

*

He must have drifted off to sleep, because the sound of his doorbell woke him up with a start. Groaning, he took a swig of tea and wandered over to the door, sans blanket this time. He opened it to find Bobbi tapping her foot impatiently.

“Do you actually check your phone anymore?” she asked by way of greeting.

He shrugged and coughed into the crook of his elbow. “Sorry, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep.”

Her face softened slightly and she pushed past him. “Steve, Natasha and Sam are concerned that you’re going to die from your plague,” she called as she walked into the living room.

Bucky sighed, shut the door and followed her back inside. She pottered around for a moment, tidying up and pushing cushions and pillows back into place, before picking up his soup and taking it over to the microwave.

“You’re not going to force feed me are you?” Bucky asked, sinking down into the couch again and muting the TV.

“No,” she said, looking around his kitchen with a quirked eyebrow. “I mean I _will_ force you to finish your soup if you don’t do it by yourself. More pressingly though, why is your house so clean?”

Bucky frowned at her, before looking around his kitchen. He’d done a half-assed job of disinfecting it that morning - wiping down the surfaces and tidying up what little clutter he’d left around. “I gave it a quick clean this morning?”

“How, also why?” she asked, her voice a mixture of amusement and exasperation. “You’re sick! When I’m sick my house ends up looking like a toxic dumping site.”

A ghost of a smile touched Bucky’s lips, and he shrugged. “I like to keep things clean, okay?”

Bobbi rolled her eyes and leaned against the counter. “So where’d you get the soup from? It smells amazing.”

Bucky felt himself flush. “Steve ordered it for me.”

There was a pop from the microwave as some of the chicken moved slightly. Bobbi looked at it for a moment before turning to give Bucky a triumphant look that made him roll his eyes. “That is disgustingly adorable. Does he have a brother, or roommate that you can sic onto me?”

Bucky gave an amused snort and shrugged. “None that I know of - other than Sam, and well…”

Bobbi chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, that guy has his eyes set firmly on Nat.”

“Like an intercontinental ballistic missile of love,” Bucky agreed.

Bobbi paused in the act of grabbing a bowl and a spoon out for the remainder of Bucky’s soup to stare at him solemnly for a moment. “God you’re loopy when you’re sick.”

Bucky poked his tongue out at her and traipsed back into the living room, wearing his blanket like a cloak. He sat down and flicked through the channels aimlessly until he found a cartoon to watch - knowing it would annoy Bobbi.

“I can’t believe you watch this shit,” she complained as she sat down next to him, placing his soup in front of him. “You’re not in college anymore.”

Bucky began to eat his soup, realizing that he was actually quite ravenous. “I like that you class cartoons as college age and down,” he replied with a lazy smile.

She rolled her eyes at him again. “I don’t. But college kids seem to regress - at least my brother has. He wouldn’t have been caught dead watching _Adventure Time_ or _Bob’s Burgers_ in high school, but now he loves watching them with his suitemates.”

He rolled his eyes at her and took several more mouthfuls of soup. “Ben’s a good kid, and college is stressful - I’m sure you’d remember that. Plus he’s probably watching them stoned out of his fucking mind.”

Bobbi’s eyes narrowed and she reached into her pocket for her phone. “He better not be getting high,” she muttered crossly. Bucky began to laugh. Ben _was_ a good kid, but Bobbi could be a hardass, and if he were actually getting high and watching cartoons Bucky doubted that he’d tell her. He stopped laughing as a couple of painful coughs wracked through his body.

“Okay that sounds awesome,” Bobbi said, concern written plainly on her face as she shot forward to give him a hug. It didn’t particularly help, but it made Bucky feel better so he didn’t complain.

“Sorry,” Bucky replied with a half smile.

Bobbi rolled her eyes and settled down beside him. “Shut up and eat your soup, Barnes.”

* * *

There were many things Steve was good at: drawing, running, making people smile, and losing spectacularly at Monopoly, just to name a few. But one thing he was definitely good at was waiting. A childhood filled with various ailments and illnesses meant that he could be endlessly patient, and the fact that he was always early to things meant that he’d had a lot of chances to practice over the years.

He was waiting for Bucky to arrive at the restaurant, seated towards the back with some strategically placed columns to block any paparazzi brazen enough to get past the frankly terrifying bouncers. He looked down at his outfit and wrinkled his nose. That afternoon Peggy and Sharon had invited themselves over to help him get ready for his date - much to his annoyance. He’d picked out a nice pair of khakis and a neatly pressed light blue shirt. Sharon, Sam and Peggy had taken one look at the shirt and had collectively decided to mess it up. His sleeves had been rolled up, and the shirt mussed and Steve felt incredibly self conscious.

Which was probably why he didn’t see the waiter bring Bucky over until he was nearly upon him. “Oh,” Steve said, jumping out of his seat. “Sorry, I was uh… distracted?”

Bucky grinned and pulled Steve in for a hug. Steve flushed slightly as he felt his body respond to the familiar feeling, though he rather firmly pushed down the urge to kiss Bucky because it was definitely the sort of thing he wanted to do in private rather than public.

“Jesus Steve,” Bucky said, breaking from the hug and looking him up and down appreciatively. “That shirt is killing me right now. With she sleeves rolled up? Damn.”

Steve flushed and grinned, taking a moment to eye Bucky’s red plaid button down and tight gray jeans appreciatively. “You scrub up pretty well yourself,” he replied, sinking into his seat.

“Yeah well, gotta look nice for this hot guy I’m on a date with,” Bucky smirked.

Steve raised his eyebrows. “Oh yeah, what’s he like, this guy?”

Bucky snorted, but decided to play along. “Oh you know,” he shrugged. “Tall, blonde, killer blue eyes, and handsome as sin.”

Steve flushed again but grinned. He wasn’t usually good at flirting but this seemed easy, natural. “Hey, I’m sure he’ll be excited to go on a date with a guy like you.”

Bucky shrugged. “Well see, hot stuff. Maybe I’ll just have dinner with you instead.”

“Yeah?” Steve asked, feeling a laugh rise to his throat. “I think I’d like that.”

Bucky smirked again and picked up his menu. Steve took the opportunity to give the other man a once over: his hair was neatly slicked back, and he seemed to have pulled through his cold with little to show for it. The main thing Steve focused on however, was Bucky’s lips. There were definitely things he wanted to do to those lips. Lots of things.

“Like what you see?” Bucky asked, looking up from his menu with a relaxed smile.

Steve grinned back and fought down the wave of tension in his chest. “Definitely. You look like Christmas morning.”

Bucky’s eyebrows rose, and a soft flush spread across his cheeks. “Thanks,” he replied, grinning lazily - god they were both smiling a lot tonight. “You sure know how to make a guy feel good about himself, Rogers.”

“All part of the plan, Barnes,” Steve replied with a flirty wink. He shook himself slightly, knowing full well that his friends would probably be hollering and dancing to see him actually flirting and at ease right now, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

“The plan to get me in your bed?” Bucky asked, frowning at the menu again.

Steve, who had just raised his water to his lips, nearly choked on it. After a moment of spluttering - in which he cursed the way that Bucky managed to make concern look sexy - he cleared his throat. “Well I mean, I was thinking more spending an extended amount of time kissing you.”

Before Bucky could reply, their waiter reappeared, and Steve was fairly certain that he’d never hated anyone more in that moment. They ordered quickly, both ignoring the knowing look the waiter gave them.

“You were saying?” Bucky purred, causing Steve’s blood to rush to all sorts of interesting places.

“I was saying that I'd like to spend quite a bit of time kissing you,” Steve replied, keeping his voice as even as possible.

Bucky winked at him. “Tonight’s your lucky night then pal, because that sounds fantastic.”

Steve felt himself shiver slightly, and he took a deep breath. Bucky was so… _beautiful_ and Steve wasn’t entirely sure he could cope with it. “So, how was your week?”

“It was okay,” Bucky replied, seeming to sense that Steve was slightly overwhelmed. “I spent most of it getting better. Bobbi came over and looked after me. Nat’s in Madripoor as we know, so she press ganged her into service.”

Steve snorted. He’d heard quite a lot about Natasha in the last week or so. Sam was utterly smitten and had been in contact with her most days, never failing to update Steve about things despite the fact that he also spoke to her fairly regularly. Bucky lifted his eyebrows at Steve and he laughed in response. “I’ve heard a lot about Madripoor in the last week. Sam was kind of hoping-”

“That she’d be back by now,” Bucky suggested with a wicked glint in his eye. “Yeah, Nat mentioned that he’s been uh, _keen_.”

Steve laughed easily. “Keen? He has officially forfeited all right to give me, Peggy _and_ Sharon a hard time about liking someone for the rest of our lives. Peggy made him sign a contract.”

Bucky gave a choked laugh. “Seriously? This is the one you went out with, right? She sounds amazing.”

Steve flushed a bit. He’d never mentioned that he and Peggy had dated, but then it hadn’t exactly been a secret. For reasons Steve could never entirely comprehend, he and Peggy’s relationship had been fairly big news, and their breakup even more so. It wouldn’t have been hard for Bucky to do a little digging, and Steve had to admit that he’d done the same. “Yeah, that’s her. Though we work way better as friends strangely.”

Bucky shot him a look he couldn’t quite decipher - warm and slightly surprised - but he decided he liked it. “I know how that goes,” Bucky agreed.

“So is it like that with you and your ex, the director guy?” Steve asked, wanting to sound casual. The media had gone into overdrive when it became apparent that Bucky and Alexander Pierce - a venerated and award winning director - had broken up. Steve had read through a load of sensationalist stories about ‘trouble in paradise’ from when Bucky had moved from L.A. to New York, but the story hadn’t been confirmed for months. In the end Pierce’s publicist had released a statement saying they’d broken up due to ‘scheduling differences’ and had asked for the media to respect their privacy during the difficult time. The media of course hadn’t, which was when Steve had stopped reading.

Bucky went very still for a moment, his eyes growing hooded, before he seemed to snap back to the present with a smile and a shrug. “Not really, but that’s a fairly boring conversation for such a nice evening, right?”

Steve breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Yeah, sorry I uh-”

Bucky grinned and reached across the table to touch Steve’s hand. “It’s fine, seriously.”

Steve gave a small smile and nodded, just in time to see their meals being brought over by the waiter. “Hungry?”

Bucky looked him up and down slowly, then gave a wolfish grin. “Absolutely.”

*

The kissing began more or less as soon as they arrived at Steve and Sam’s place. He wasn’t sure exactly how he’d managed to get them there without crashing, seeming as Bucky’s face had been pressed against his neck the entire time. Nevertheless, they’d somehow made it off the bike and through the front door and had begun kissing against it - Steve thanking his lucky stars that Sharon had decided to drag Sam and Peggy up to San Francisco for the weekend.

Bucky kissed him with a single-minded ferocity that made his knees weak. Without being aware of how or why, Steve found himself pressed firmly against the door with his legs braced wide, Bucky’s hands at his hips and neck while they kissed with unrestrained passion.

Steve groaned and curled his fingers gently around Bucky’s jaw with one hand while running his fingers through his hair with the other. Bucky retaliated by untucking Steve’s shirt and sliding his hands up underneath it. “Fuck,” Steve breathed, breaking contact for a moment.

“Right?” Bucky asked, taking a moment to rest his head in the crook of Steve’s neck.

“You’re ridiculous-” Steve started, until Bucky began kissing along his neck and up across his jaw. “Fuck.”

They stayed like that for an indeterminate amount of time. Steve kept vaguely thinking that maybe they should stop, or at least move somewhere more comfortable, but then Bucky would kiss him behind the ear or stroke his hands along Steve’s side and all his desire to do anything else evaporated.

Eventually, Steve’s neck got a crick in it and he decided that it was time to move. Without breaking the kiss, Steve grabbed Bucky’s ass and lifted him slightly. Bucky seemed to react instinctively, wrapping his legs around Steve’s waist and wrapping his arms around his neck. Steve walked through the house and kicked open his bedroom door.

He finally broke the kiss, and dumped Bucky onto the bed, smirking at the surprised laugh that escaped him as he bounced slightly. He took a second to switch on a lamp and then kick off his shoes and watched Bucky do the same, before climbing onto the bed with the other man.

“What’re you doing there, big guy?” Bucky asked, his voice deliciously husky.

“I’ll show you,” Steve replied. Bucky opened his mouth to respond, but gave a stuttered gasp instead when Steve straddled his waist and pushed his hands firmly into the bed above his head.

“Fucking Jesus,” Bucky gasped as Steve grinned and slowly lowered his head enough to kiss him, still holding Bucky’s hands above his head.

They kissed for what felt like hours, completely lost in one another. At some point they both lost their shirts. By that point, Steve was almost painfully hard, and Bucky was very clearly in a similar state. Steve, however, was resistant to taking it further. This was perfect, and while he definitely wanted to do more, he didn’t want to do so tonight.

He slid down until he was lying beside Bucky, kissing idly down his neck and along collarbone. “Fuck, Stevie,” Bucky muttered. “You’re driving me crazy.”

Steve lifted his head and grinned. “Sorry, can’t help it. You’re amazing.”

Bucky huffed a laugh and looked at Steve. He looked at Steve in a way that made him feel utterly exposed - almost naked. “Your eyes are so damn blue, but there’s a tiny bit of green in them, did you know that?”

Steve blinked slowly, and then chuckled and returned to kissing along Bucky’s jaw. After all, there wasn’t really much he could say to a statement like that. Taking his cue from the way Bucky gasped, he moved slowly up his neck and settled at the base of his jaw.

“Oh god, do you realize how good you are at this?” Bucky demanded after a moment, his arms giving an involuntary spasm of pleasure. “You’re way too good. Listen to me, I’m babbling. I feel like a fucking teenager. Fuck.”

Steve pulled away and looked down at Bucky earnestly. “Is it okay if we don’t go any further tonight?”

Bucky’s eyes softened, and he wrapped a hand around Steve’s neck and pulled him in for a long, tingling kiss. “Of course you idiot, we’ll go as slow as you want.”

Steve grinned and nodded. “You’re sleeping with me though,” he said, as he got up and grabbed a pair of sweatpants for Bucky to change into.

“Pal, you couldn’t kick me outta this bed if you tried,” Bucky retorted, pulling himself up and taking the proffered pants from Steve. “Can I get changed in your bathroom?”

Steve grinned and nodded. “‘Course. There’s a spare toothbrush there too.”

“Fancy,” Bucky called back, leaving the door open. Steve tried his best not to peek as he stripped down to his boxers, but he did catch sight of the long line of Bucky’s back, ending in his perfectly shaped ass before he blushed and looked away.

Once he was sure Bucky was changed, Steve wandered into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Bucky had found the spare toothbrush and had also begun brushing his teeth. They spent a couple of minutes making one another laugh by doing suggestive things with their toothbrushes, before they both finally crawled into Steve’s bed.

There was an awkward moment as they both shuffled around the covers trying to get comfortable, until Steve eventually threw caution to the wind and firmly pushed Bucky onto his side and curled up behind him. It felt almost like two puzzle pieces slotting together, and Steve made a satisfied noise. “Night Bucky,” he murmured, brushing his lips against the back of the other man’s head.

“Night Stevie,” Bucky sleepily replied.

It was one of the best nights of sleep Steve had ever had.


	7. Stay With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve and Bucky have breakfast, and the celebrity-industrial complex churns out another article littered with false facts. Also, Steve and Bucky are the worst/best at flirting.

Bucky awoke slowly, struggling into consciousness as if from a great depth. The first thing he became aware of was the warmth pressed against his back, and then of the arm loosely thrown over him. For a single panicked moment, he wondered where he was. The tiny part of his brain where all his fears and anxieties lived told him that this couldn’t be Pierce, because he’d never treated Bucky like anything but an object.

And then he remembered. He was at Steve’s house. In his bed. Steve was pressed up against him, his head resting against the back of Bucky’s own. Bucky felt warm, and protected, and safe. He made a soft, contented noise and settled back into Steve, dozing quietly.

He must have fallen asleep again, because he woke up to see Steve looking down at him with a small smile. “Morning,” Bucky said quietly.

“Morning,” Steve replied, leaning forward to brush his lips against Bucky’s forehead.

Bucky grinned and buried his head in Steve’s shoulder, entangling their legs. For a moment he let himself just lie there, quietly breathing Steve in. He felt Steve’s lips quirk into a smile against the top of his head, before he felt a pair of strong arms slowly encircle him. “This is nice,” Bucky mumbled into Steve’s shoulder.

“Very nice,” Steve agreed, pressing his lips to the top of Bucky’s lips and idly brushing his fingertips across his back in a way that made Bucky tingle.

He thought back to the night before and felt the blood pound in his veins. It had been one of the hottest experiences he’d ever shared with another man - beating what he’d previously considered mind-blowing sex by a mile. A big part of him had yearned for it to be something more, but Steve had made it clear that he wasn’t ready yet, and Bucky had been more than willing to follow his lead. In the end, some things were worth waiting for and if _kissing_ Steve had been that good, then anything more would probably shatter Bucky’s mind into a hundred pieces.

Bucky’s train of thought was interrupted when Steve shifted to look at him. “Sorry, what?” Bucky asked, flushing slightly. “I uh, got a little distracted.”

Steve chuckled and drew Bucky up for a long, lingering kiss. By the time they pulled apart, Bucky was breathless and slightly dazed. “I just said we should get up and enjoy our Saturday morning,” he replied casually. “That is, if you want to?”

Bucky rolled his eyes and sat up so he could look down at Steve. “Oh wow, spending the morning with you? I don’t know if I could handle it.”

“Jerk,” Steve muttered, grinning like an idiot.

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed, before kissing Steve into the pillows. The kiss was warm, and slow, and achingly familiar. It was less ferocious than any of the ones from the previous night, but it was definitely just as good. Eventually, Bucky broke away and Steve made a whining noise in the back of his throat.

“Can I use your shower?” Bucky asked, smirking at the slightly dazed look on Steve’s face. Steve nodded, clearly attempting to regain his composure.

“Of course, there’s a spare towel next to the tub,” Steve replied. “It’s turquoise.”

‘Turquoise’ Bucky mouthed at Steve with a grin, before jumping off the bed and heading into the shower. He took a slightly longer and considerably colder shower than he normally would have. Mainly because he kept thinking about the absolutely gorgeous man in the next room.

Afterward, he padded out into the bedroom with the towel wrapped low around his hips. “Uh, can I borrow some clothes? I mean my jeans are fine, but the rest of mine are kinda at Bobbi’s so…”

Steve looked him up and down slowly, making Bucky blush. “Sure, I got a shirt that’s a bit tight on me,” he said after a moment. “Should fit you.”

“Thanks,” Bucky replied, suddenly feeling oddly shy about wearing the blonde’s clothes.

Steve smiled at him and disappeared into his closet for a couple of moments before coming back out with some boxers and a white V-neck shirt. “I hope these are okay?”

Bucky took them gratefully and nodded. “Yeah perfect.”

Steve smiled again in response and disappeared into the bathroom for his own shower. Bucky quickly threw on the boxers and t-shirt, stopping to look at himself in the mirror. There was something slightly sexy about wearing Steve’s underwear, though Bucky would have never admitted that to anyone. Shaking his head, he pulled on his jeans and boots and then sat on the bed, charging his phone and reading his texts and emails while he waited for Steve.

He nearly toppled back into the pillows when Steve walked out of the bathroom with his towel deliberately clinched incredibly low. “This is revenge for me doing the same thing to you, right?” Bucky asked.

Steve just grinned and disappeared into the closet. “So what do you want to do this morning?”

Bucky chewed his lip. “I don’t really mind as long as it involves copious amounts of breakfast foods?”

Bucky distinctly heard Steve snort and smiled to himself - another victory to him. “Well there’s this great Mexican place a few blocks away,” Steve said, reappearing in a pair of jeans, a grey Henley, and some aviators. “I’ve been known to pack away a bit of food there from time to time, and it’d be nice to take someone with similar talents.”

Bucky grinned impishly. “Pal, I’m definitely your guy then.”

Steve grinned right back and handed Bucky a pair of sunglasses. “I was hoping you’d say something like that.”

Since it was a nice day out - which, since they were in California, was breathtakingly unsurprising - they decided to walk to restaurant. They joked and laughed as they walked, nudging one another like a pair of teenagers. At one point, the skin on the back of Bucky’s neck prickled, but when he looked around, he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

They eventually got to the restaurant and sat down toward the back. A large, grandmotherly Mexican woman bustled over to the their table, chattering to Steve in Spanish. He burst into a massive grin and replied in the same language, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. Bucky watched them with amusement, feeling his affection for Steve growing even stronger. Eventually the woman reached over and patted Steve on the hands and took away their menus. “Did you order?” Bucky asked, quirking his eyebrow slightly.

Steve snorted and shook his head. “No point, she’d just bring us something different anyway,” he said with a fond expression. “Sam and I come here at least once a week, and Mercedes knows us, and likes the fact that we’ll eat anything so she decides what we eat.”

Bucky gave a surprised laugh. “That sounds amazing actually.” He paused and thought of a restaurant that he and Natasha always visited when they wanted to celebrate their various victories and achievements. “It reminds me of this Russian restaurant Nat and I always go to. It’s run by this old Russian couple who swear at one another and their customers in Russian, but they love us because we speak the language and swear back.”

Steve grinned at him and shook his head. “You never cease to amaze me, Buck.”

Bucky felt himself blush, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. “I do my best pal.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and Bucky felt himself blush even more, thinking back to the night before. Steve also began to blush, lowering his head and looking through his eyelashes at Bucky. “I uh,” Steve looked down, going even more pink. “I- Thanks for this,” he finished lamely.

“Spending time with an awesome guy,” Bucky said with a smirk. “Gee Steve, it’s such a hardship. No idea how I’m coping.”

Steve rolled his eyes, then squinted at something behind Bucky. Bucky turned around and saw a guy in sunglasses quickly get up and leave the restaurant.

“Friend of yours?” Bucky asked lightly.

Steve shrugged and refocused on Bucky. “Not that I know of. He didn’t have a camera though so could just be a creep.”

They settled back into a more natural conversation after that, chatting and sniping back and forth amicably until their food came - chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, and some sort of chocolaty corn-based drink. The food was delicious, and Bucky quickly came to understand why Sam and Steve came here so often. They continued chatting throughout the meal and eventually walked back to Steve’s place. The sight of Steve Rogers - his blue eyes filled with mirth - was very nearly Bucky’s undoing.

Which was probably how he came to be on Steve’s couch - with Steve on top of him no less - when he met Sam Wilson for the second time, and Peggy and Sharon Carter for the first time.

Looking back, Bucky wasn’t entirely clear how they managed to get in without either of them noticing - though in Bucky’s defense Steve was _on top of him_ and nuzzling his neck, so he hadn’t really been paying much attention to anything else.

There was a delicate and unmistakably feminine clearing of a throat, and Bucky’s eyes snapped open to see Sam, Sharon and Peggy standing in an incredibly amused row staring at them. Bucky made a noise like a squashed frog and poked at Steve’s sides frantically. “Steve,” he gasped out after a moment. “We uh, have an audience.”

Steve paused and turned his head before toppling off Bucky in surprise. “Uh, hi guys,” Steve said in what he obviously hoped was a casual voice. “I thought you guys were in San Francisco all weekend?”

Sam began to laugh and Bucky scrambled up off the couch, helping Steve up as he did so. “Um, hi,” he said, sticking his hand out to the closer of the women. “I’m-”

“Bucky Barnes, I know,” she replied, flicking her blonde hair to one side. “I’m Sharon. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Bucky nodded and pasted on his best smile, trying to repress the fact that he’d just been caught making out like a lust-addled teenager. “Oh yeah,” Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry Buck, that’s Sharon, and you’ve met Sam, and this is-”

“Peggy Carter,” the brunette said, sticking her hand. “Nice to meet you as well. Steve’s spent an awful lot of time talking about you.”

“Jesus, Peggy,” Steve complained, as both Sam and Sharon started laughing again.

Bucky broke into a huge grin. “Really, isn’t that interesting?”

Peggy snorted and winked at Bucky before looking at Steve. “Don’t give me that, you two looked about three seconds away from losing your shirts-”

“And pants,” Sharon murmured. Bucky snorted - he decided he liked her.

“So there’s no need to get all cagey about it man,” Sam finished succinctly.

Sharon and Peggy sank onto one of the couches and looked at them expectantly. “So, tell us about your date,” Sharon commanded.

Steve groaned and threw himself back on the couch they'd just vacated, dragging Bucky with him. They settled back into the cushions, and Bucky very nearly jumped when Steve instinctually twined their fingers together.

“It was nice,” Steve said, after a moment where all three of his friends stared at him expectantly.

“Wait, that’s it?” Sam asked.

Steve grinned at Bucky for a moment, and he returned the grin with full force before turning to look at them.

“Yeah,” Bucky replied. “That’s it.”

* * *

There was nothing quite as distracting, Steve had decided, as being in a busy group chat. The only possible exception was the thought of Bucky Barnes naked and underneath him. Steve paused in the act of taking notes on the script Shield studios had sent him to think about that particularly pleasant notion for a moment until his phone gave a frantic series of buzzes again.

Ever since it had become apparent that Steve, Sam, Sharon and Peggy were slated to join Natasha, Bobbi and Bucky in Nick Fury’s cinematic universe, the seven of them had made a group chat. In theory it was a great idea, but in reality it just meant that Steve and Bucky’s friends had a greater opportunity to tease them. Which again, would have been fine if Bucky wasn't currently reshooting scenes for an upcoming political drama he was starring in, and was actually there to take the ribbing along with him.

With a sigh, he picked up his phone to see what was going on.

 **Peggy:** Right so I just got to the bit where the Captain, the Soldier, and the Widow are all revealed to be a hell of a lot older than we thought?!

 **Natasha:** Well, yeah? James and I were told that from the beginning, and there’s a shitload of foreshadowing **Bobbi:** Like the conversation in Black Widow about “having seen more states rise and fall then you’d think”

 **Sam:** Dude! Spoilers!

 **Natasha:** Sammy you’re literally going to be in the movie

 **Sharon** Does this mean we get to call you guys Gramps and Granma?

 **Sam:** I hadn’t got to that bit yet

 **Peggy:** How do they explain the three of you looking so spry?

 **Bobbi:** Buck and Nat’s nicknames on set are actually Bunic and Babushka so

 **Natasha:** Barbara!

 **Bobbi:** Natalia!

Steve snorted to himself and entered the fray.

 **Steve:** You people have way too much time on your hands.

 **Sam:** Steve dude you gotta save me

 **Bucky:** Oh look a sane person has arrived..

 **Natasha:** James that was hurtful

 **Peggy:** Yes James, how could you say such a thing

 **Bobbi:** Is it because we’re not sleeping with you?

 **Sharon:** It’s definitely because we’re not sleeping with him.

 **Sam:** Oh god

 **Bucky** Ffs

 **Steve:** How many times do we have to tell you we haven’t slept together?

 **Bucky:** Probably too many

 **Bobbi:** Look I’m sorry but Sharon has pictures

 **Sam:** We came home, and you were horizontal on the couch man

 **Peggy:** The technique was excellent

 **Sharon** Look Bobbi, would you have done anything differently?

 **Bobbi:** Not a damn thing

Steve threw the phone onto the table with a sigh of disgust, reaching over to mute it after several more seconds of insistent buzzing. His main problem lay in the fact that Bucky was busy and ever since their last date, Steve had found himself slightly… distracted. Steve’s bed was big and comfortable, and yet he hadn’t been sleeping as well in the week since his night with Bucky. Not that he was willing to admit that to any of his friends, of course. There was only so much chirping he could sustain.

He sighed again and went back to reading over the script, though his heart wasn’t particularly in it. Steve wanted to call Bucky, but they’d already spoken that morning, and he knew for a fact that he was actually in the middle of filming scenes at that very moment.

Steve frowned and shook his head slightly. He knew he was being ridiculous. Their first date had been only five weeks before, and he knew that he should try to slow down. But he also knew it was pointless. His mother had always told him that he jumped into things with both feet, consequences be damned, and this was no exception.

“Man, you are completely distracted over there,” Sam said from behind him, nearly making Steve jump out of his skin.

Steve smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

Sam dropped into the seat across from him. “Thinking, huh? Blue eyes, pretty lips, brown hair?”

Steve blushed and chuckled. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yeah, but it’s all good man,” Sam replied. “I’ve got it pretty bad for his partner in crime and she and I haven’t even been on a damn date.”

Steve gave him a withering look. The attraction between them was nigh on unmissable, and he knew for a fact that they spoke on the phone more nights than they didn’t. “We both know you two would be good together.”

Sam lifted his hands as if to fend off a killing blow. “I know man, I know. Adding Sharon and Peggy to the group added a whole new level of intrigue to the thing though.”

“Just ask her out,” Steve persisted. It was the exact advice that he’d thrown at Steve again and again about Bucky, and he knew Sam knew it. Interestingly though, Sam wasn’t looking at him anymore, and instead looking down at his hands.

“Man, I kinda already did,” Sam replied at last.

Steve’s eyebrows shot up, and he broke into a huge grin. “You did? What? That’s awesome man.”

Sam smiled at him and then shrugged. “We’re uh, hooking up next week in New York. I’m flying out to see her.”

Steve grinned, “That’s really great man.”

Sam’s cheeks darkened, and he looked away again, which was interesting for Steve - shy wasn’t a side of Sam he was used to seeing. “Anyway man, tell me what’s got you all tied up up in your head.”

It was Steve’s turn to look down at the table uncertainly. “I guess I’m just, I don’t know, feeling weird about how much I like him?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “And? He likes you too, man! Don’t forget I had to walk into this house and see you lying on top of him.”

Steve laughed ruefully again. “I just don’t wanna scare him off, you know?” He sat back in his chair and straightened his shoulders. He’d said it. He’d pushed aside all the bullshit and actually admitted what was scaring him.

“Feel better?” Sam asked, a hint of a smile still playing on his lips.

“Yeah, a little,” Steve admitted.

“You need to stop overthinking it man, just talk to him. He _likes_ you.” Sam waggled his eyebrows. “Hell, the moment you say something in that damn chat he’s there, but otherwise leaves me to be devoured by the ladies.”

Steve gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. “Yeah well, he’s busy and I’m _trying_ to be busy so…”

Sam looked ready to respond when his phone began going off in his pocket. “The hell?” He asked, taking it out.

“I thought you muted that?” Steve asked curiously.

“It was from Nat- Oh man you need to look right now, this is _incredible_.”

Steve reached over and grabbed his phone to see an ecstatic conversation unfolding.

 **Steve:** What’s happening?

 **Bobbi:** I just found the best thing!

She sent a picture of a gossip article about he and Bucky, filled mostly with pictures from the previous week. Steve looked at it for a moment and began to laugh weakly.

 **Sharon:** I can’t believe this?

 **Bucky:** ‘Bromance confirmed: Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers hang out in L.A.’ seriously?

 **Steve:** Well this is awkward…

 **Bucky:** I don’t usually make out with people I’m in a bromance with

 **Peggy:** Just friends being dudes, just dudes being guys, just guys being gay…

 **Sam:** I’m hurt Steven, you’ve never taken me on a mandate and then made out with me.

Steve looked up and gave Sam an unimpressed look, which just made the man laugh even harder.

 **Natasha:** I can’t believe you two are just friends, and I’m just as hurt as Sam, James. How come you’ve never taken me out like that?

 **Bobbi:** Ew

 **Bucky:** Because that would be like incest?

 **Sharon:** Yikes

Steve rolled his eyes. On the one hand, he was oddly relieved that he and Bucky hadn’t been dragged through the gossip columns. But on the other, it was oddly insulting that the idea hadn’t even entered into the columnists head - particularly given the fact that the article had used pictures from both their date night _and_ breakfast the following morning.

Steve looked up at Sam who was shaking his head at him again. “Go call him,” Sam said firmly.

Steve bit his lip for a moment and then nodded. “Thanks man,” he said, getting up and jogging through the house to his room. He flung himself on the bed and looked at his phone for a few moments before dialing the number.

Bucky picked up after just a few rings. “Hey, everything okay?” Bucky asked, his voice sounding both anxious and oddly echoed.

“Yeah everything’s cool, I just wanted to talk to you really,” Steve replied.

Bucky sighed. “Good- wait hold on.” There was a pause in which Bucky had a quick whispered conversation with an irritated sounding woman. “Hi, back, sorry I’m in makeup. I’ve just convinced Danielle to go and do Irene’s makeup.” There was another pause in which Bucky obviously struggled with his words. “So uh, you’re not upset about the article?”

Steve grinned and settled back into the pillows behind him. “Nah, I mean I think it’s pretty dumb that they didn’t pick up that we were on a damn date.”

Bucky snorted down the line. “Trust me, Tumblr will probably be all over that shit.”

Steve chuckled softly. “But it’s fine. You’re okay with it?”

“Yeah hot stuff, I’m fine,” Bucky replied. “I’m currently sitting here mostly naked but otherwise fine.”

Steve felt his eyes widen slightly at that mental image. “Mostly naked, why? I mean, I approve obviously…”

Bucky chuckled. “The scene I’m reshooting is the one where my character sneaks through the White House and meets President to warn her about an attempt on her life. Also to flirt with her.”

“I still don’t get the naked bit,” Steve confessed. “But really, why would the Secret Service let a mostly naked and apparently homeless guy in?”

Steve can picture Bucky grinning and shrugging. “Because it’s more interesting to the story or some shit? I do have to play a straight guy which is interesting, but otherwise.”

Steve chuckled and cracked his neck. “Really, a hot blooded guy like you should totally sell it.”

“Yeah wise guy, well this hot blooded guy kinda has someone else on the brain.”

“Really, who?” Steve asked, a stupid grin crossing his face.

“Just this punk he met a month or so ago,” Bucky replied teasingly.

Steve closed his eyes and imagined Bucky smiling as he spoke, and his chest ached a little bit. “Really, what’s this guy like?”

Bucky gave a little hum of amusement. “He’s a real big guy, killer blue eyes, but inside he’s really a marshmallow.”

“Sounds like a push-over to me,” Steve replied, heart still beating slightly fast.

“Nah, definitely not a pushover. Kinda guy you’d want to have your back in a fight.” Bucky’s voice was almost purring by this point, and it made Steve feel kind of bold.

“I’m sure he’d have your back, Buck. Or at least, have you on your back,” he said with as steady a voice as he could manage.

There was a startled pause and then a groan. “Babe, you can’t just say things like that. Jesus, I’ve got to go be homeless and I’m hard as a fucking rock.”

Steve’s brain short circuited at a moment. “Babe?” he asked, his voice clearly unsteady.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m calling you from now on babe,” Bucky replied.

“Fuck,” Steve said, still getting his head back in the game.

“Hopefully,” Bucky agreed. Steve heard voices in the background and Bucky sighed. “Look, I have to get my makeup done, but let’s finish this conversation later, _babe_.”

“Of course, gorgeous,” Steve replied. “Talk soon.”

Bucky disconnected and Steve lay there for a moment, completely hard. He was fucked. Oh so very fucked.


	8. Talking Body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve turns up on Bucky's doorstep and they decide to stop messing around and get down to business. Also featuring shared showers, pancakes, and hilarious awkward introductions.
> 
> Or: hello naughty children, it's smut time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it's my birthday today, and in celebration of that fact (and because I'll be busy most of the week) I'm posting Chapter 8 early.
> 
> You may have noticed the rating changed on the fic, and that's because this chapter has the sex in it.
> 
> For those of you not inclined to read it, it starts from "God Bucky, please" and ends with "They lay there together"

It was was one of the cold, overcast New York evenings that always seemed to fill Bucky Barnes with equal parts lethargy and melancholia. The air was heavy, the leaves were turning, and Bucky Barnes was bored. He’d spent the afternoon helping Natasha get ready for her date with Sam - the date that in her own words ‘she was _not_ nervous about James, shut up and help me pick an outfit.’ They’d spent most of the time going over various clothing options in a way that had given Bucky serious college flashbacks. Eventually though, she’d calmed herself down and banished him from her Upper West Side apartment because she didn’t want him to be there when Sam arrived.

He’d headed back to Brooklyn in the mid afternoon and gotten into a brief text conversation with Steve, who had been oddly unspecific about his evening plans - much to Bucky’s annoyance. Steve was currently in Boston for some sort of promotional thing for one of his upcoming movies, and Bucky was more than a little put out that they wouldn’t be able to see each other even though they were so close. In all honesty, a large part of his irritation lay in the fact that he and Steve had crossed the line from flirting to sexting in the two weeks since The Great Kissening (as Sharon and Bobbi had begun calling it) and Bucky was horny as hell.

Horny, but also bored. He flopped onto the couch and zoned out in front of a show about World War II for an hour or so, only getting up to shut the windows upstairs when it began to rain heavily outside. He was just considering ordering some sort of takeout when his phone beeped on the coffee table.

Frowning, he leaned forward to pick it up, breaking into a grin when he saw it was from Steve.

**Steve:** You’re home right?

Bucky frowned down at the message, trying to squash down the impossible hope that bloomed in his chest.

**Bucky:** Yeah why?

**Steve:** Because I didn’t think to make sure when I decided to jump in one of Tony’s stupid cars and drive down from Boston to see you. Then we were texting and I wanted to surprise you, and just kinda assumed you’d be home.

Bucky jumped up and looked around wildly.

**Bucky:** Ur here?????

**Steve:** I just had to find a space for the damn car. I hate parking in this city. I’m fucking freezing.

**Bucky:** STEVE YOU’RE FUCKING HERE????

The doorbell rang, and Bucky nearly brained himself tripping over the coffee table in order to get to the front door. He opened it and found Steve looking very wet, and slightly out of breath, and completely mind-blowingly gorgeous.

“Hey,” Steve said, rubbing the back of neck with a sheepish smile. “I hope it’s okay I came? I uh, I just really wanted to see you, and we were so close, and I couldn’t handle it… Also I’m rambling Bucky fucking stop me talking I am-”

Bucky grabbed Steve by the shirt and pulled him in for a long, lingering kiss. “Hi,” he said after they pulled apart. “Get the fuck inside, you’re wet.”

Steve gratefully obliged, and then he dropped the duffel bag in his hands and pushed Bucky against the wall to kiss him. They kissed for several minutes until Steve began to shiver, and Bucky broke away to give him an exasperated look. “You need to go have a shower,” he said firmly, taking Steve by the hand and leading him toward the stairs.

“A shower would be nice, yeah,” Steve agreed, looking around curiously.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’ll show you around later, go have a shower before you catch something.”

He led Steve up the stairs and into the bathroom. Steve looked around curiously. “I like the blue tiles,” he said seriously, and Bucky rolled his eyes.

“I’ll go get you something to change into,” he said in way of response, and disappeared into his room. He hunted through his drawers until he found an old pair of sweats and some boxers that he thought would do for Steve to sleep in. He padded back to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Hey, I have some-”

Steve opened the door, wet from the still running shower and completely naked save for one of Bucky’s spare towels wrapped loosely around his hips. “Hey, thanks babe.”

Bucky was fairly certain that the sight before him had struck him speechless. “I-”

Steve grinned and took the clothes gently from Bucky’s hand. “The water’s nice and warm, wanna join me?”

Bucky blinked several times and then nodded. Steve turned back toward the shower and dropped the towel, treating Bucky to the sight of his firm ass. “God,” he muttered, undressing quickly and following the other man under the water.

Steve turned and gave him a small, almost shy smile. “I’m feeling a lot less cold now,” he said softly, softly brushing a lock of hair off of Bucky’s face.

“I’m glad,” Bucky replied, just as softly. Steve cupped Bucky’s jaw and drew him into a tingling kiss. The kiss was tender and achingly slow, and it left Bucky feeling utterly breathless. The kiss combined with their nakedness, and the sheer eroticism of the situation was sending the blood surging downward, and Bucky groaned into Steve’s lips.

Then, Steve was pulling away and turning around. “Wanna wash my back?”

Bucky smiled fondly and nodded, though of course Steve couldn’t see him. He reached down and grabbed some shower gel and slowly began soaping Steve’s back, pausing occasionally to press butterfly kisses to the back of his neck and shoulders. He wanted - _needed_ \- Steve, but he also wanted Steve to be the instigator. Bucky was ready, but he wanted to be completely certain that Steve was too. Steve for his part simply stood there, occasionally moving obligingly when Bucky prodded him to do so.

“How’s that, big guy?” Bucky asked after he finished.

Steve turned around and stood under the water, looking Bucky directly in the eye. “I’m definitely not cold anymore.”

Bucky bit his lip, and Steve’s eyes dropped down to watch, and stayed there. “I’m glad, hot stuff, I wouldn’t want you to get a cold or anything.” He paused, feeling the waves of tension emanating from Steve. “Besides, you’ve always been hot to me.”

Steve smirked and snaked a hand around Bucky’s hip and pulled him under the water. “You’re so beautiful, you know that right?”

Bucky closed his eyes for a moment, almost… embarrassed at how intimate this moment was, and how earnest Steve’s words were. He could feel Steve’s erection pressing against his hip, and it took all his energy not to reach down and touch. He opened his eyes and gazed back at Steve. “You’re almost too much sometimes pal. I don’t deserve you.”

Steve rolled his eyes and brushed a kiss against Bucky’s nose. “Never say that. You’re amazing, Buck.”

Bucky wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and pressed his forehead into his shoulder. Steve began to idly run his fingers in a circular motion across Bucky’s back - something that sent little waves of lust crashing through his system. Interestingly, Steve’s muscles seemed tense, and he seemed on the verge of saying something several times. They stood locked together like that for what felt like ages. Bucky eventually opened his eyes and took a step back. “I’m hungry,” he said with a little smirk. “I’m gonna put some clothes on and see about ordering something in.”

Steve gave a mock pout. “You’re gonna leave me to finish my shower all by myself, gorgeous?”

Bucky stepped out of the shower and grabbed clothes from the floor and his towel, turning to look at Steve. “You’re a big boy,” he said, eyes dropping down to Steve’s crotch for a moment. “Very big. I’m sure you can handle it.”

He stepped through into the hall, the sound of Steve’s laughter following him. He changed quickly into his clothes, tucking his own sensitive, wanting erection into his pants, and then headed down into the kitchen. He was just standing at the kitchen table, deciding between Japanese and Thai when a warm pair of arms wrapped around him. “Thanks for the shower,” Steve said, placing a kiss on the side of Bucky’s neck.

“Thanks for coming,” Bucky said back, focusing on the menus in front of him in order to retain some semblance of his mind. “Do you feel more like Thai or Japanese, because-”

Steve cut off any further conversation by capturing Bucky’s lips with his own again. The kiss was utterly different to the one’s they shared in the shower. This was deep, and almost frantic and Bucky felt himself begin to tingle from it.

“Steve, babe,” Bucky gasped, wrapping his arms firmly around the blonde’s neck. “I want you so bad, we should probably-”

Steve grinned and bit into his bare shoulder, eliciting a moan of sheer pleasure from Bucky. “I want it,” Steve said after a moment. “I want you. Fuck, Bucky I just…”

Bucky’s brain essentially turned itself off, and he grabbed Steve’s hand and tugged him blindly towards the stairs. “Too many clothes,” he explained, not even bothered by Steve’s quiet laughter.

They got to Bucky’s bedroom, and he stopped, turning to look at Steve. “I…”

Steve moved forward and embraced him. “Are you sure you want this, because I’m happy if-”

Bucky rolled his eyes and came dangerously close to stamping his foot like a child. “Steven Rogers get out of your clothes and on my fucking bed _now_.”

Steve smirked and brushed past him, stripping out of the borrowed sweats and throwing himself back onto the bed. Bucky looked at him for a moment, taking in the beauty of him laying there looking like some sort of teenage fantasy come to life.

“See something you like, gorgeous?” Steve asked, a challenge clear in his voice.

Bucky grinned and shrugged. “Maybe I do.”

“Then get the hell over here.”

Bucky grinned and walked a couple of paces closer to the bed and then paused. Without taking his eyes off Steve’s he slowly took off his sweater, then his shirt. Steve made a gratifying little groan when Bucky slowly moved his hands down and began unbuckling his belt. Looking Steve in the eye and taking off his pants did prove difficult, but he managed somehow, and then he was on top of Steve.

Bucky shivered slightly as Steve wrapped his arms around him and slowly began to kiss his way from his lips, down along his neck, and across his chest. He opened his mouth to say something, but Steve chose that particular moment to bite into his chest near his nipple and he let out a choked gasp instead.

He rutted slightly and slid down, becoming incredibly aware that there was very little between Steve and him but two pairs of cotton boxers. He was struck by a sudden idea and grinned impishly. He pulled Steve into a bruising kiss and pushed him back into the pillows. “You’re so fucking beautiful, fuck,” Bucky said.

“Buck, you’re-” Steve gave a gasp as Bucky slowly began kissing and licking his way down the other man’s neck and chest and stomach, until finally he reached the hem of Steve’s boxers. He looked up inquiringly and smirked at the utterly ruined look on Steve’s face. “God Bucky, please. _Please_ ,” Steve whined.

Bucky grinned and slowly lowered the hem of Steve’s boxers and pausing to watch his dick slap against his stomach. He paused for a moment to admire the view before him before leaning forward and taking the head in his mouth.

Steve’s breath hitched as Bucky slowly began to suck him off, using both his hands and his mouth to full, devastating effect. He began to pick up speed and Steve moaned loudly, tangling his fingers through Bucky’s hair. “Bucky, god,” Steve moaned.

Bucky took the dick out of his mouth with an audible pop and grinned. “Liking this then are you babe?”

Steve just looked at him with a goofy grin and nodded. Bucky went back to work, drawing Steve closer and closer, until finally Steve pulled him up and kissed him firmly. “Hey, I was enjoying that,” Bucky complained after they broke apart.

“I was too, gorgeous,” Steve said, his eyes dark with lust. “But I really, really want to fuck you. Can I fuck you?”

Firecrackers went off in Bucky’s brain for a second, and he flailed around for a moment before reaching into his nightstand and pulling out his lube and some condoms. “Babe, you can fuck me all night.”

Steve gave a slow, sexy smile and placed a lingering kiss on Bucky’s neck before slowly making his way down his body. Bucky lifted his hips obligingly when Steve reached his boxers, and gave a shuddering gasp when Steve spent a minute or so sucking him off. Eventually though, Steve moved in between Bucky’s legs, maneuvering them into position. He looked up questioningly, and Bucky nodded. Steve smirked and spent several agonizing moments warming the lube and applying it to his fingers before slowly pushing into Bucky. He clenched for a moment and then relaxed, letting Steve slowly work him open. After a while it became too much for Bucky, and he began to whimper with pleasure. Steve for his part, kept steadily fucking him open. With one finger, it felt amazing; with two, it felt like heaven; and with three, Bucky was almost ready to come undone.

Eventually, Steve seemed to deem it was time, and spent a couple of moments fumbling with the condom before giving Bucky a long, lingering kiss. “You ready?”

“Jesus, Stevie just… yes, okay?” Bucky said, refusing to care about how much of an incoherent mess he was.

Steve nodded and took his time lining himself up, and then suddenly he was sliding inside and Bucky nearly shuddered from how good it felt and how hot Steve looked. “Fuck,” Steve grunted, pausing to reposition Bucky’s legs slightly.

Bucky gasped and moaned as Steve began to fuck into him. “Fuck babe,” he managed to gasp out. “Harder, _fuck_!”

Steve gave him a cocky grin and began to thrust harder, sending sparks of pleasure shooting through Bucky’s body. He wrapped his legs more firmly around Steve’s waist as he fucked Bucky into the mattress, occasionally sliding up against his prostate in a way that made Bucky cry out.

“Jesus, Steve, I’m gonna-” he started, before another long moan escaped him.

Steve began thrusting harder, sending a fresh wave of sparks cascading behind Bucky’s eyes. “C’mon Buck, come for me.”

Bucky looked into Steve’s eyes and then gave one last gasp before letting go completely. “Fuck,” he whispered almost reverently.

Steve kept up his quick pace, his thrusts growing increasingly erratic until he collapsed on top of Bucky with a groan.

They lay there together for several bliss-filled moments, utterly exhausted. “So,” Steve said. “You were mentioning something about dinner?”

Bucky laughed and kissed him soundly. “Yeah babe, I think you deserve it.”

* * *

The first thing Steve noticed upon waking up that morning, was that Bucky Barnes had a lot of skin. To be more particular, he noticed that Bucky had a lot of naked skin pressed directly up against Steve’s equally naked skin. It probably wasn’t the most coherent of thought processes, but Steve felt he was allowed to be a bit inarticulate, especially considering that he’d spent a fairly large portion of the previous day driving to New York from Boston, fucking the brains out of Bucky Barnes, eating Thai food, and then fucking him again.

That was the thing about Bucky. He seemed to bring out so many conflicting sides in Steve. He made Steve feel protective, and shy, and energized, and brave, and horny, and tender, and maybe, just _maybe_ a little bit in love. Of course, that could also have been the endorphins from two bouts of lovemaking talking, but either way it was a feeling that Steve liked.

He looked down at Bucky. He was nestled against Steve’s shoulder, a frown marring his features. He murmured something in his sleep, and made a distressed sound deep in his throat. Steve frowned and gently reached out to stroke the side of the man’s face. “Hey Bucky, you’re fine.”

Bucky stilled for a moment - either the touch or Steve’s words calming him - and then snuggled down further into Steve with a contented little huff. Steve smiled fondly down at him, and stretched out in the bed, looking around the room curiously. Everything about the room was contradictory. The walls were a silvery color which appeared almost pearlescent in the morning sun, and the furniture was modern and sophisticated. The art on the walls and the various nicknacks however, were bright and colorful and seemed to represent the contrasts that made up the man sleeping beside him.

Steve lay there for a few minutes, contentment and hunger warring inside of him. Eventually, the curiosity won and he quietly slipped out of the bed, leaving a pillow for Bucky to curl up around. Stopping to fish a pair of Bucky’s boxers from the floor, he tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen. He looked around with a sigh that was half contented and half envious - he wished his and Sam’s kitchen was half as nice as this one.

He walked over to Bucky’s new coffee machine - a Jura something or other, called the Dutch Bean Machine by their friends - which Bucky had spent an obscene amount of money on purely to annoy one of his sisters. He poked the touch screen cautiously, and snorted at the latte macchiato option. He rummaged around in the cupboards until he found a glass and set it to make him a macchiato while he compiled the necessary ingredients for pancakes.

Steve whistled to himself softly as he mixed the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar with the milk, egg, melted butter and chocolate chips. Initially there had been two packets of chocolate chips but he’d eaten the better part of one of them. He figured Bucky wouldn’t really mind.

He had just reached out to drink the last of his coffee when there was a noise behind him. He turned and blinked in surprise as two women walked into the kitchen and stopped in their tracks to stare at him. One of them seemed vaguely familiar, like maybe Bucky had sent him a photo at one point or another, but the other was someone completely new.

There was split second in which he looked at them blankly and they looked right back. And then they screamed, and Steve nearly dropped his coffee. “Hi, hi,” he said loudly, hastily putting the cup down and lifting his hands defensively. “I uh-”

“You’re in our brother’s kitchen,” the older of the two said, almost accusingly. Oh good, sisters. Well, possibly not _good_ good, but less likely to end in Steve being pepper sprayed.

“With _amazing_ abs,” the other one (who clearly resembled Bucky) added. “Nice work with them, they look amazing.”

Steve was saved from answering by arrival of Bucky - completely naked except for a blanket which he’d wrapped around himself like a toga. The impromptu outfit did very little to hide the lovebites running down Bucky’s neck and onto his chest - though Steve was fairly certain he had a fair amount of his own as well - nor his utterly fucked out appearance. Bucky cleared his throat and pulled the blanket slightly tighter around him. “Um, Carol, Darce… nice to see you. I see you’ve met Steve.”

They both turned to stare at him, the blonde one rather blankly, and the younger one like she’d just been given a gift. “We hadn’t actually got to that yet,” Steve admitted, swallowing his pride and stepping forward to offer his hand out. “Steve Rogers, pleased to meet you.”

“I know that, my best friend Jessica is a little bit in love with you-” Carol started before pausing and closing her eyes in horror. “Oh god, please forget I said that. I’m Carol, glad to meet you.”

Steve shook her hand, and smiled - trying to ignore Bucky who was apparently trying not to die from silent laughter in the background. “It’s really nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

She nodded and Steve turned to the other sister - Darcy. “Hi nice to meet you as well, Darcy right?”

“Hi,” Darcy said, ignoring Steve’s hand and giving him a light hug. “Loving the bite marks, who knew my brother had a bite kink.”

Steve looked down and blushed ruefully. “Uh I… Well I…”

Darcy smirked at him and then suddenly froze, her eyes going wide. She whipped around and pointed a finger at Bucky with an exalted cry. “Oh god, Bucky got lucky!”

“I am _not_ sixteen anymore Darce, you have to let that die,” Bucky groaned as he shuffled further into the kitchen, pausing to carefully hug each of them in turn.

“Never, it rhymes,” she retorted before turning to wink at Steve. “Besides, you got lucky with this dude here and honestly I feel the Barnes children need to gather and sing _Wind Beneath My Wings_ at you because hot damn.”

Carol looked vaguely mortified, but Steve couldn’t help the ugly snort that escaped him. Carol’s expression softened and Darcy threw him a huge smile. Bucky rolled his eyes, but there was a definite smile tugging at his lips. “Yes well,” he said, reaching out and grabbing Steve by the wrist. “Steve and I are going to go and get in some clothes okay?”

Steve allowed himself to be tugged out of the kitchen and up the stairs to Bucky’s room. Once they were alone, Bucky dropped the blanket and pulled Steve to him. “Morning,” he said softly, before kissing him soundly.

Steve sighed and leaned into the kiss, placing one hand on Bucky’s neck and the other firmly on his ass. Bucky hummed into the kiss, and Steve felt himself growing hard. “Buck,” he said pulling back. “Your sisters are downstairs. Maybe we should get dressed.”

“Or maybe we could get _undressed_ ,” Bucky suggested, sliding a hand under the hem of Steve’s boxers. Steve tightened his grip on Bucky’s ass and bit into his neck.

There was a knock at the door and they both jumped and looked at it. “Can you two stop flirting and come downstairs?” Darcy asked. “Carol’s having a meltdown over the coffee machine and it’s freaking me out.”

Bucky sighed heavily. “Way to kill a moment Darce.”

There was a laugh that sounded eerily like Bucky’s from the door. “Sorry to stop you getting your rocks off bro, but Carol is wigging the fuck out.”

Bucky sighed but nodded, disappearing into his closet. Steve grabbed a fresh set of clothes from his bag and pulled on a pair of pants. There was a whistle behind him and he turned to see Bucky walk out of the closet in a pair of jeans. “Maybe we can continue that conversation later,” Steve suggested.

Bucky grinned and pulled on a shirt. “I’ll hold you to that, babe.”

“So we probably need to tell them,” Steve said after a moment’s distracted silence.

“Them? My family already knows, trust me - Darcy will have texted everyone by now.”

“No, smartass,” Steve said rolling his eyes. “ _Them_. Nat, Sam, Bobbi, Peg, Sharon.”

“Oh, the Horde?”

“The Horde,” Steve agreed with a nod, trying not to think of all the things he wanted to do to Bucky.

“Must we?” Bucky asked with a little whine in his voice.

Steve nearly broke, but somehow managed to stand firm. “They’ll find out and get mad, Buck.”

“We could hide?” Bucky suggested.

Steve snorted. “From Natasha?”

“Good point,” Bucky conceded.

They both took out their phones and caught up on the conversation that had been going on over the morning. Natasha and Peggy were currently embroiled in a discussion on human sexuality, and Bucky gave Steve a slow grin. “You thinking of something?” Steve asked.

“Follow my lead, babe,” Bucky replied.

**Natasha:** You know, there’s a little bisexual in everybody, just waiting for the chance to come out

**Peggy:** I prefer the idea of the Kinsey scale to be honest

**Bucky:** I had a bisexual inside of me last night, that’s for sure

**Steve:** You rang?

He looked up at Bucky and smirked, then looked back down to see the carnage his comment had wrought.

**Sam:** dUDE

**Bobbi:** OH MY GOD THAT WAS LETHAL

**Natasha:** holy fucking crap

**Peggy:** STEVE? STEVE WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I NEARLY CHOKED.

**Sharon:** I actually just clapped. I am sitting in a waiting room to meet with a director and I just clapped like a goddamn seal.

Steve looked up as Bucky sidled up to him and drew him in for a long, spine-tingling kiss.

**Bucky:** I’m not gonna lie kids... I just gave Steve a high five

**Bucky:** With my mouth

Steve laughed softly for a moment. “Okay, see that was fun?”

Bucky grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll admit it. Now let’s go see what’s going on before Darcy builds a barricade and starts demanding democratic elections.”

They trooped downstairs together and found Carol drinking a latte with an accusing expression on her face. “The last time I visited you you had one of those crap little percolators.”

Bucky shrugged carelessly. “I thought it would be fun to buy a nice one.”

Steve returned to his pancakes and did some quick mental arithmetic. He’d need more chocolate chips and- Bucky interrupted his train of thought by wordlessly handing him another packet of chocolate chips and a spatula.

“To be fair,” Steve said, deciding it was time actually talk. “Nat bought one of them, and Bucky thought it’d be cool to buy one too.”

Carol rolled her eyes, but there was a smirk playing on her lips. “Already got you in his corner has he?”

Steve gave her his very best little shit grin and nodded. “Always.”

Carol laughed musically, and Steve decided that he liked her. She had a no nonsense attitude about her that Steve instantly connected with. Carol sobered and looked at Bucky with an arched eyebrow. “Still, spending what? Three grand on a coffee machine?”

Bucky coughed delicately. “It was more like four.”

Steve quirked and eyebrow and Carol rolled her eyes. Darcy however, looked utterly shocked. “You spent _four grand_ on a coffee machine?” she demanded.

“Yeah?” Bucky shrugged, turning back around with a latte for both her and Steve.

“Can you be my sugar daddy, except in a non-incestuous way where you just give me money?”

“Darcy, I pay half your rent,” Bucky retorted with a snort.

“So does George, what’s your point?”

Steve chuckled and refocused on preparing the pancakes, letting the sounds of familial bickering and chirping wash over him. He was almost ready to start cooking when he saw Darcy approach in his peripheral vision.

“Hi,” she said, hoisting herself onto the counter next to him.

“Hi,” Steve responded, shooting her a warm smile while he carefully poured a ladle-full of pancake mix onto the griddle.

“So you and my brother huh?”

“Yeah well,” he replied with a slight shrug, watching the pancake intently. “He’s kinda hard to ignore.”

“You’ll do right by him?” she asked in a serious tone that made Steve jerk his eyes up to look at her.

“As much as I possibly can,” he replied seriously, because this was obviously a Test, and he didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Bucky’s sisters. “I mean I can’t promise I’ll never upset him, but I’ll try my damnedest not to.”

“Good enough for me,” she replied with a nod. Steve grinned and flipped the pancake in the air, eliciting a little squeal of excitement from her and a groan from her two siblings.

“Darcy what are you conspiring about?” Bucky asked.

Darcy and Steve looked at one another for a moment and then turned to look at Bucky.

“Lettuce,” she replied.

“Lettuce?” he asked, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.

“ _Lettuce_ ,” Steve agreed.

“Will the three of you stop saying ‘lettuce’ it’s weirding me out,” Carol called. “I thought we were getting pancakes or something?”

Steve smirked at her and returned to cooking, Darcy laughing quietly beside him.


	9. Before the Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where our boys out for dinner with some friends where they are Far Too Adorable, Tony is so on point it hurts, Pepper is amazing, and Sam and Natasha are too much. Later, the boys have unexpected guests for 'breakfast' and there's a few too many pop culture references. 
> 
> Or: in which the author lulls you all into a false sense of security with another fluffy chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry for the lateness of the update! Last week was my birthday and then there was Pride, but also the Brexit and a fair amount of drinking was done so less writing occurred. Regular updates should recommence next week.

All things considered, it was a disgustingly beautiful night in Los Angeles. The night was clear and crisp, the temperature was perfect, and Bucky was amused. He and Steve were seated in a private room in one of the hottest new restaurants in downtown waiting for Sam, Natasha, Tony and Pepper to arrive. They were early of course, because Steve seemed physically incapable of being late to anything - not that Bucky particularly minded.

“Babe, it’ll be fine,” Bucky said quietly, placing a hand on Steve’s arm. “Nat texted to say they were nearly here and Pepper always arrives on time.”

Steve threw him a slightly chagrined smile. “Sorry Buck, I just…”

“I’ve met them all y’know,” Bucky drawled. “It’ll be fine.”

Steve gave a dimpled smile, and Bucky had to suppress the urge to throw himself across the table and kiss him. “I know, I know. It’s just the first time I’m having dinner with my friends and my boyfriend.”

Bucky’s stomach gave a little flip at the sound of that word, but he smiled. In the first two weeks after they’d finally had sex - a time that had involved the rather prodigious use of cross country air travel - they’d pussyfooted around the exact semantics of their situation. At least they had, right up until Bucky had thoughtlessly introduced Steve as his boyfriend when they’d bumped into his friend Clare in Berlin. Clare had seemed delighted by the news, and Steve’s expression had been almost devastatingly awed. That had been a week ago, and Steve and Bucky had settled into the idea, and Bucky was so happy it almost hurt.

“Yeah well, as long as they’re nice to me, these friends of yours,” Bucky joked, trying for humor to calm the waves of longing that were currently surging through him.

“Pal,” Steve said seriously. “If they’re not I’ll give ‘em the old what for.” He sounded like a caricature of a 1940s gangster, and Bucky couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of his throat.

“God you two are disgusting,” Natasha said from behind them.

Bucky turned and saw Sam and Natasha approaching the table, and he lazily flipped her off. “Nice to see you too, Natalia.”

She rolled her eyes and sunk into the seat next to him, allowing Sam to sit next to Steve. “Nice to see you again man,” Sam said, grinning at Bucky.

“Same here,” Bucky said with a grin of his own. Everything Steve and Nat had said about Sam, coupled with his own observations meant that Bucky already liked him, which meant that he hopefully wouldn’t be too awkward with him. “I hear you’ve been keeping Nat busy.”

Steve and Sam both laughed and Natasha poked him in the side. “James, honestly!”

Sam gave a jovial shrug and then leaned forward to wink. “I dunno man, no more than you’ve been keeping my boy Steve here busy.”

It was Steve’s turn to get embarrassed while Natasha and Bucky laughed. “What can I say, he’s a great guy,” Bucky said easily.

“Honestly this is such a picture, really, I love it. It’s too much.”

Bucky turned and saw Pepper and a man he vaguely recognised as Tony Stark heading toward them.

“Barnes and Romanoff, right?” he asked, sitting down at the head of the table and grinning at them knowingly. “Excellent to finally meet you in person.”

Pepper took a seat at the end of the table next to Steve and Bucky and patted Bucky’s arm. “Ignore him, he likes being sardonic. He thinks it’s funny.”

“It is funny, but then I’m hilarious,” Tony answered with a little wink. Sam and Steve both chuckled, and Bucky decided that he liked the man - constant sarcasm more or less being a staple of growing up in the Barnes household.

Natasha gave him a little arched eyebrow, which was code for ‘I think I like this person but I may still cut them down to size’ - a look that Bucky remembered all too well from the start of their friendship. “It’s Natasha and James,” she replied pleasantly. “You’re perky aren’t you?”

Tony blinked, and gave her an assessing look - the easy-going facade dropping for just a second to reveal a depth of intelligence beneath. “James? I thought it was Bucky.”

Bucky sighed and nodded. “It _is_ Bucky,” he said echoed almost instantly by Pepper and Steve. He paused and shot them both a grin, and then turned back to Tony. “Natalia here just likes to call me James.”

“Because Bucky’s a stupid name,” she replied with a shrug.

James opened his mouth to respond, and felt Steve’s foot brush his leg under the table. He shut his mouth and gave an exaggerated shrug instead and threw Steve a dazzling grin. Pepper gave him a coy little smile and a delicately arched eyebrow, clearly indicating that there would be discussions later.

“Where does Bucky come from anyway?” Sam asked curiously, leaning forward with an open smile.

Bucky laughed ruefully. “My pops was a big history buff, so I got saddled with James Buchanan Barnes as a name.” He reached for the glass in front of him and took a quick sip. “Only problem is there’s about three James in the extended Barnes clan, and so my little sisters started calling me Bucky and it kinda stuck.”

“You mean kinda sucks,” Natasha muttered, earning her a deeply amused look from Tony and an eyeroll from Sam and Steve. Bucky and Pepper had heard this argument too many times to be overly affected by it.

“Well, as interesting as that little sibling dynamic is, shall we look into ordering?” Tony asked. Bucky and Steve exchanged an amused glance, not moving to pick up their menus.

“Steve,” Sam said in a slightly pained voice. “C’mon man tell me you were only a little early, and you and Bucky haven’t already picked what you’re eating.”

“Okay, we haven’t picked,” Steve responded calmly, and Bucky had to actively repress a snort - they had in fact already picked while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive.

“Are you lying?” Sam pressed.

“Yes,” Steve responded as if the answer should have been obvious. He was wearing the cocky grin that he always seemed to wear when he was ‘stirring the pot’ as Bucky’s mother called it.

“How on earth did you get Bucky here early?” Pepper asked, shooting Bucky a quick little wink.

“Yeah Rogers,” Natasha added. “It took years of training to get him to arrive on time, how’d you manage it?”

“Oh yay, they’re turning on someone other than me,” Tony said, looking up from his menu.

“Well I mean, he was driving,” Bucky replied with a smirk. “Also he promised me an extended makeout session in exchange for leaving so early.”

“C’mon Buck,” Steve muttered, his ears going slightly pink. Bucky grinned at him and stroked his leg with his foot under the table.

The waitress arrived with a diffident knock on the door, and took their orders. Tony was obviously a regular because he greeted her by name, taking a moment to ask after her family and how she was going at school. She left as quietly as she arrived, and Tony stared after her fondly.

“I like that kid,” he told the table expansively. “The moment she graduates, _poof_ her student loans are history.”

Bucky snuck a glance at Pepper and saw the depth of fondness in her eyes as she looked at her husband. He sent an assessing look at Steve, who returned his look with a small smile. Bucky contemplated for a second having that much love for someone, before his mind shuddered back from the enormity of the thought. Steve was the closest thing he’d had to that sort of feeling, but he still had scars from the past that made him wary of deserving it, no matter how much he yearned for it.

“Man I wish _my_ student loans had been history straight outta college,” Sam said with a sigh.

“Here, here,” Natasha said with a little shudder.

Bucky nodded fervently. He’d been pretty lucky, financial aid and his scholarship had meant that his loans had been small. His brother’s law degree and sense of family obligation had meant what little remained had disappeared quickly.

Steve went red and muttered something noncommittal, and the table turned to look at him. He went even redder and Bucky had to control the urge to launch across the table and kiss him breathless.

“You liked your student loans?” Natasha asked archly.

Steve looked down at his hands and Tony chuckled. “Steve’s magically disappeared the day after he met me,” Tony supplied.

Bucky felt his eyebrows rise. “Really?” he asked.

“Man, seriously?” Sam asked with a laugh. “You never told me that!”

Pepper tilted her head at her husband. “And _you_ never told me that.”

“You were busy,” Tony replied with a shrug.

Natasha elbowed Bucky. “I hope you know your boy toy’s hard reset button, because I think he’s broken over there.”

Steve finally looked up from his hands and threw her a small smile, which she returned with full force. There was a momentary lull, and then Sam was suddenly drawing Natasha and Tony into a conversation, so Bucky turned to Pepper. “It’s a shame I don’t come out here and see you more often,” he confessed. “I actually quite like Tony.”

Pepper laughed and batted his arm gently. “Don’t let him hear you say that-”

“Too late,” Tony commented with a sly wink, before re-engaging in his own conversation.

Pepper gave a long suffering sigh. “He’ll be so much work now.”

“Aw, Tony’s not so bad,” Steve defended with a laconic shrug. “He surrounds himself with people that regularly deflate his ego.”

“You included?” Bucky asked with a grin.

“Definitely Steve included,” Pepper agreed. “Our friend James Rhodes as well.”

“Rhodey?” Bucky asked with a frown. He’d listened to Steve talk about Tony’s team enough times that he almost felt like he knew him, although James Rhodes was someone he knew by reputation anyway.

“That’s the one,” Pepper agreed. “Anyway, there’s a perfectly rational reason why you’re in New York, and you know I’m fine with it.”

Bucky flushed and glanced at Steve. He hadn’t told him about Pierce, not really. He knew there was a point where he would have to, but for now he didn’t want to change the way they were. Things with Steve were perfect, and Bucky was desperately afraid that he’d ruin them, or that Steve would look at him with that look of pity that he hated receiving so much. Steve furrowed his brows, but didn’t make any comment, and Bucky’s shoulders sagged with relief.

He grinned at Steve and got an uncertain smile in return. Bucky rolled his eyes and leaned across the table to stroke Steve’s arm for a second.

“You two are far too cute, you know that right?” Pepper asked.

Steve’s smile grew wider and he winked at her, then looked intently at Bucky. “We know.”

For some reason, it took Bucky far too long to stop blushing.

* * *

There were a number of things that Steve found amazing about having a boyfriend like Bucky in his life. He was warm, he was hilarious and always managed to make Steve laugh, he gave the best hugs, he had an amazing ass, and he always seemed to know exactly what to say to drive Steve up the wall. The gorgeous eyes and gorgeous mouth certainly helped too.

But one of the best things had to be morning sex. It wasn’t that the other stuff wasn’t great too, just… Steve definitely appreciated a man with a sex drive similar to his own.

Bucky rolled off of Steve with a groan and lay on the bed panting for a moment. He turned to look at Steve with heavy-lidded eyes and Steve shivered slightly from the intensity of the look. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair from Bucky’s forehead, and got a smile for his efforts.

“That was nice,” Steve said quietly, trying and utterly failing to convey the depth of feelings he had in that particular moment.

“Just ‘nice’ was it?” Bucky asked with a little huff of amusement. Instead of responding Steve reached across and ruffled Bucky’s hair. Bucky giggled and tried to move out of the way, trying to mess Steve’s hair at the same time. It quickly devolved into a wrestling match where they tried to mess one another’s hair up as much as humanly possible. Steve felt that he’d definitely won the tussle, but then Bucky ended things by pinning him to the bed and kissing him senseless, so in the end he found he didn’t particularly care.

Steve was just starting to get into the kiss, hands moving to Bucky’s hips, when suddenly Bucky was rolling off him and padding over to the mirror. “You asshole, my hair’s a mess,” he accused, utterly failing to hide the smile playing on his lips.

Steve grinned and shrugged. “What can I say, I like making you messy.” He vaulted out of the bed, and picked a pair of boxers off of the floor. “Breakfast?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Bucky said, tilting his head to watch Steve pull on the boxers. Steve revelled in the look.

He was getting used to the fact that Bucky didn’t always vocalize his feelings completely, but showed them instead. It manifested itself in smirking looks and lingering touches, and private smiles and laughs that only Steve seemed to bring out. According to Natasha, Bucky had always been like that, resorting to pointing at things when he didn’t have the energy or words to verbalize his feelings. Which of course, meant that Steve was even more smug about the level of verbosity he managed to pull out of Bucky when he fucked him.

“So what d’you feel like eating?” Steve asked.

“Bacon and eggs?” Bucky asked pleadingly, pulling out his puppy dog eyes to full, devastating effect.

Steve didn’t even pretend to put up a fight, partly because of the eyes but mostly because he’d bought bacon, eggs and sausages for that very reason. “Put something on,” he warned. “You just know Peggy or Sharon are likely to show up and they will mock you for a million years if you’re naked.”

Bucky grumbled but complied, pulling a pair of Steve’s boxers from the chest of drawers without even bothering to look for his own. Admittedly, Steve _had_ ripped them off him the night before, so it was entirely possible that they wouldn’t be in any state to be worn, but he chose to ignore that.

Humming to himself, Steve made his way into the kitchen and began getting things ready for their breakfast. Bucky appeared a minute or so later and hugged Steve from behind. “What do you want me to do?”

Steve leaned back and made a contented noise. “You can chop up some tomatoes and make the pancake batter,” Steve suggested after a pause.

“Okay,” Bucky replied, letting go of Steve with an apparent amount of regret. Steve turned and watched fondly for a second as Bucky searched through the pantry for the flour. “Let’s murder these pancakes.”

Steve laughed quietly and went back to trimming the bacon. They worked around one another in companionable silence for a while; Bucky taking the occasional break to squeeze Steve’s ass here, Steve pausing to kiss down the back of Bucky’s neck and shoulders there. It probably wasn’t the most efficient way of preparing breakfast, but Steve liked to think that it worked.

They stood together over the stovetop: Bucky making a stack of pancakes, and Steve frying some eggs, bacon, sausages and hashbrowns. Steve was suddenly struck by the perfect domesticity of the moment, and how happy he was. A piece of advice that his mother had given him not long before she died floated to the top of his mind. She’d told him to always be truthful with the people he cared about, and to always tell them how he felt. So he leaned over and kissed Bucky on the cheek. “You make me happy,” he said simply.

Bucky’s eyes widened for a moment, and he looked so utterly vulnerable and perfect that Steve kissed him again.

“Thanks,” Bucky replied quietly, almost shyly. “You make me happy too.”

Steve smiled and continued frying their food, ducking when Bucky flipped a pancake a little too enthusiastically. He managed to catch it, which Steve found all the more impressive. Of course Bucky’s blush made the whole thing a hundred times better.

Soon they were seated at the table, demolishing their breakfast.

“Damn but you know how to cook a good breakfast,” Bucky commented, pointing his knife appreciatively at the spread in front of them.

“Hey, I like cooking breakfast for my guy,” Steve replied mildly. “Plus, all the things you let me do to you last night babe, breakfast is the least I could do.”

“Here, here,” Bucky said with a smirk.

“I mean, that thing you did with your hips,” Steve said, pasting a wicked smile on his face. “Totally worth at least four breakfasts.”

“At _least_ five, I’d say,” Bucky countered, and Steve grinned wider.

“Oh and you know how to use that tongue of yours for more than talking shit,” Steve said with a wink.

Bucky laughed and then pointed his fork at Steve accusingly. “You know what, Rogers? Eat your damn pancakes. Besides, don’t talk to me about tongue action, you nearly made me faint.”

Steve took a giant bite out of his pancakes and gave a close mouthed grin. Bucky rolled his eyes and unsuccessfully attempted to smother his own smile.

Bucky flicked a piece of bacon at Steve, who expertly caught it in his mouth. Bucky actually giggled in response and Steve was fairly certain that he could spend the rest of his life making Bucky happy and not feel like he’d wasted a single second. Steve moved into position and Bucky lobbed another piece of bacon at him.

Which was of course exactly when the doorbell rang. They both froze, and the bacon hit Steve on the cheek.

“Who the hell is that?” Bucky hissed. “I thought you were joking about Peggy!”

“I- I was though?” Steve said uncertainly. They looked at one another wide-eyed for a moment, both utterly unwilling to give up their perfect morning to be with strangers. Bucky gave Steve a look that clearly indicated that he wasn’t getting the door because it was Steve’s house. Steve narrowed his eyes and replied with a look that said he was not happy about this situation in the slightest, and Bucky’s expression softened.

The doorbell rang again and Steve pulled himself up with a sigh and stomped through the house to answer it. He opened the door to find Peggy Carter and Bobbi Morse staring at him.

“Good lord Steve, you’re not dressed!” Peggy cried.

Bobbi’s left eyebrow shot up. “Okay now I see what Bucky sees in you.” Peggy threw her an amused smile and nodded.

Steve blinked, still trying to work out why the two of them were on his doorstep when neither of them had met in person to the best of his knowledge. “Uh, hi.”

“Why _aren’t_ you dressed?” Peggy asked, breezing past him and into the house.

“Sorry about this,” Bobbi said quietly. “We met up for lunch and then I mentioned that I hadn’t met you properly, and Peggy didn’t know that Bucky was in town and she got very fixated on-”

There was a distinctly feminine cry of shock from the kitchen, followed almost immediately by a sarcastic one in response. Steve and Bobbi rolled their eyes at one another and went inside.

“Why are neither of you dressed? It’s eleven o’clock in the morning,” Peggy was complaining.

“Because we slept in,” Bucky replied in a deeply amused tone. “You’re lucky we _are_ dressed. I was all for naked breakfast but Mr. Health and Safety over here thought we should cover up at least a little bit.”

He sauntered over to Bobbi and kissed her on the cheek. Steve noted with wry amusement that she was utterly un-phased by his near nudity. Then he remembered that they’d been required to film a bathhouse assassination scene together where he wore nothing but a towel and it suddenly made sense. “C’mon,” he said dragging Steve toward the bedroom. “Let’s get slightly more dressed for the ladies shall we?”

They changed quickly and went back into the kitchen to find Peggy and Bobbi talking quietly at the table. Bucky sat down and continued with his breakfast and after a moment’s hesitation, Steve followed suit.

“So it’s nice to see you again,” Bucky said conversationally to Peggy. “Sorry about being mostly naked.”

Peggy snorted. “Well it’s not the most salubrious way to greet guests, but it’s nice to see you again too.”

They nodded at one another and Bobbi absentmindedly stole a piece of Bucky’s bacon.

“So has anyone given you the ‘don’t hurt Steve or you’ll end up in traction talk’ yet?” Peggy asked curiously.

Steve choked on his food and Bobbi coughed with surprise. Bucky on the other hand seemed utterly unperturbed.

“Peggy,” Steve managed to choke out.

“That was bold,” Bobbi agreed.

Peggy and Bucky ignored them. “Let’s see, I’ve had it from Sam, Tony, Sharon, and oddly Natasha,” he replied, ticking names off on his finger. “Although I imagine dear Natalia’s had the same conversation with Steve.”

Bobbi nodded while Steve opened his mouth, too appalled for words to come out. “She’s like the mutually assured nuclear destruction of relationship advice,” Bobbi agreed.

Bucky nodded thoughtfully and nibbled on his bacon, Steve continued to be horrified, and Peggy frowned. “That made no sense,” she said.

“Peggy!” Steve finally forced out between clenched teeth.

“Yes dear,” she asked, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

“Please don’t threaten bodily harm to my boyfriend?” he pleaded.

“Sorry,” she shrugged. “Clause sixteen of our post-breakup friendship agreement states that I must physically harm anyone who breaks your heart. You signed it.”

“You guys have a post-breakup friendship agreement?” Bucky asked with interest.

“God that would be useful as fuck,” Bobbi said with a sigh.

Bucky nodded emphatically. “Yeah you and Lance could totally have use one of those after you broke up.”

“Right? I’d have to punch him way less,” she mused. “Me too,” Bucky agreed heartily.

“And there’d be less awkward apology sex,” she added.

“Me _too_ ,” Bucky joked.

Steve blinked at them and saw Peggy doing the same thing. “Are you two arsing around or…?” Peggy asked cautiously.

“I am,” Bucky conceded. “Bobbi’s not.”

“My ex and I have a uh… _weird_ relationship, although I’ve been seeing other people lately.” Bobbi confessed.

“Yeah, as you should,” Bucky said emphatically.

“Yeah yeah, I know your feelings on the issue. I have to say I met that Barton guy a while ago and he’s kind of cute,” Bobbi mused.

“Clint Barton, the talk show host guy?” Steve asked. “He’s great.”

“Get Fury to introduce you properly?” Bucky suggested.

“Hmmm,” Bobbi mused. “You think he would?”

Bucky snorted. “Nick’s an old softy, he’d totally do it.”

Steve looked at his boyfriend with surprise. He hadn’t been aware that he was on first name basis with Nick Fury. “You know Fury well?”

Bucky shrugged and gave Steve a disarming smile. “Well yeah! He’s been my director in like three films now. Also he’s going to be yours, and yours,” he said, pointing at Steve then Peggy in turn.

“Well now I’m going to feel like the new kid trying to fit in with all the pre-made cliques,” Peggy complained.

“You’ll be fine,” Bobbi said bracingly, giving Steve a tiny wink. “Just don’t go near the Plastics.”

Steve frowned, he didn’t like cliques at the best of time and anyone bad enough to be called the Plastics were obviously bad news, although Bucky’s expression gave him an inkling that perhaps…

“Who’re the Plastics?” Peggy asked curiously.

“Nat and Buck, obviously,” she replied with a snigger. Steve rolled his eyes, relieved, and Peggy gave a chuckle.

“You come into _my_ house-” Bucky began in mock outrage before Steve interrupted with a pointed cough. Bucky grinned at him winked. “Fine, my _boyfriend’s_ house! How could you?”

“Ayyy, at least it ain’t the day of your daughter’s wedding,” Bobbi replied haughtily in an Italian-American accent.

“Oh god Steve, they’re doing Godfather impressions,” Peggy said, shutting her eyes in horror.

“Shut up English, you talk too much,” Bobbi said, still in the same accent.

Bucky cracked up, and it made Steve’s heart sing. Maybe having guests over wasn’t such a bad thing after all.


	10. Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky receives an unwelcome blast from the past, and Steve's world falls apart.
> 
> Or: hello naughty children, it's angst time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, so this is a fairly heavy chapter. Trigger warnings abound for gaslighting and some physical assault. If that's not your style skip from "to say that the appearance" until "gave an exasperated sigh and left."
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading and all your lovely comments.
> 
> Also uh, sorry. Just... sorry.

Bucky Barnes was happy. The sun had decided to make an appearance after several days’ absence, and it had turned into a beautiful day. Bucky had actually found himself humming as he went about his morning. Everything in his life seemed to be going perfect. His contract with Fury’s studio had been extended and expanded, Natasha had confided in him that she was actually kind of falling for Sam, and Bucky had Steve.

Bucky plonked himself down on the couch - tired from his session with his personal trainer, and grinned down at his phone. If you had told Bucky four months ago that he’d meet someone on a talk show of all places, he would have laughed at you. Hell, if you’d told him three months ago that the date he was going on with Steve would lead to this much happiness, he still would have been sceptical. He didn’t have the best track record with men, but Steve was pretty much the best man Bucky had ever known, and he’d almost begun allowing himself to believe that he deserved it.

He looked down at his phone on the coffee table with a start, leaning forward with a groan to pick it up.

**Steve:** Morning gorgeous :-*

Bucky smothered a laugh - Natasha had been trying to teach him emojis and emoticons, with mixed success.

**Bucky:** Morning babe, nice to hear from ya.

The doorbell rang, and Bucky hauled himself off the couch. He restrained himself from skipping through the house, and instead trotted quickly to find his ex standing on his doorstep, looking as charming and dignified as ever.

To say that the appearance of Alexander Pierce at his doorway came as a nasty surprise was something of an understatement. Bucky had spotted Pierce several weeks earlier on his second date with Steve, but had shrugged it off. Pierce hadn’t actually looked at him, and the two of them hadn’t interacted with one another in any way in over four years.

Panic surged through his brain, cascading in ripples of fear through his body. “What are you doing here?” he blurted, eyes darting around for an escape route if one became necessary.

Pierce’s lip curled contemptuously. “I’m disappointed, I thought an asset like you would have retained the manners I taught you.”

Bucky felt the blood drain from his face as an avalanche of ugly memories crashed over him. He took a small breath and internally began reciting all the different types of flowers he could think of. _Rose, petunia, daffodil, iris, peony_ -

“Are you not even going to answer that?” Pierce asked, his eyes narrowing.

“What can I possibly say to that?” James - _Bucky_ replied. _Foxglove, violet, daisy, chrysanthemum, fuchsia, lily._ Bucky blinked slowly, and refocused on Pierce.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Absolutely not-"

Pierce's hand snaked out, snatching Bucky around the wrist as he took a step closer. Suddenly he was looming in Bucky’s face and he had to actively work on repressing a shiver.

"Now now James, you’re being rude, and it’s beginning to hurt my feelings. You remember how easy it is to hurt my feelings don’t you?" The memories that came flooding back made it impossible for Bucky to do anything but step back as Pierce shouldered his way into the foyer.

“You must be wondering why I’m here,” Pierce said after what would no doubt have been an awkward pause if Bucky had been able to notice it.

Bucky shrugged, trying to appear as unaffected by this nightmare as he could. “I’m sure you’ll get to it eventually.”

"We were so close once. And we haven't spoken in years. I hear you're doing well."

Bucky would have snorted if he’d been speaking to anyone else. He didn’t believe Pierce for a single second. The man’s smile was wooden and forced, not reaching his eyes. Not that his smiles ever did.

"There's a reason we haven't spoken in years," Bucky spat as venomously as he could. He was rather proud of the fact that his voice didn’t shake, considering the fear and adrenaline that made his limbs feel like jelly. “You know exactly why.”

“Oh do I?” Pierce asked mildly, the expression not changing. “I certainly remember you being over-dramatic about everything, always blowing things out of proportion.”

Anger and shame made Bucky’s face hot, and he was fairly certain he would have looked slightly deranged. For a single moment, he allowed himself to think of the harrowing final days of his relationship with Pierce, and what it had taken for him to reach out for help. “I don’t know that being pushed down a flight of stairs constitutes being ‘over dramatic’ and honestly you haven’t spoken to me in years, so that’s not why you’re here.”

The fake smile fell off Pierces lips, and his jaw tightened dangerously. “I’ve heard talk that you’re dating someone new, James,” he said, his voice dripping with derision. "Do you really think anyone else would find any worth in you? You must really have him fooled."

Bucky felt anger swirl in his gut. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business, Alexander,” he said stiffly. Steve was important, and he would be damned if he was going to let an abusive asshole like Alexander Pierce ruin it for him.

“So formal, James? Calling me by my full name, you know I don’t care for that,” Pierce said, taking a step closer.

“You just called me James,” James - _Bucky_ bit back through clenched teeth.

Pierce rolled his eyes. “Bucky is a childish name fit only for an imbecile, although I suppose that’s not completely inappropriate considering past actions-”

Bucky closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. “Was there a reason that you came here?”

“Hit a nerve did I?” Pierce said, smugness dripping from his words. “Not really,” Bucky lied with a shrug. “Natasha and my sisters call me James.”

Pierce sneered again, his opinion on Natasha and Bucky’s family having been a common bone of contention throughout their relationship. “Yes well, even broken clocks are right twice a day.”

Bucky balled his hands into fist. “Again, Alexander. Why the fuck are you here?”

“I’m here James, because I find it utterly fascinating that you think you would be worth someone’s time and effort,” Pierce said, a sneer marring his features. “You were so unfinished when I met you, like a rough sketch. I took a lot of time and effort to try and make something of you and you threw it in my face. Do you really think you won’t do it again?”

“By all means, Pierce, don’t hold back,” Bucky said, internally preparing to name flowers again.

Pierce swung his hand back and slapped Bucky - _James_ \- sharply across the face. He stumbled back, and nearly lost his balance. “Don’t speak to me like that, after all I’ve done for you,” Pierce barked, a bit of spittle flying as he spoke. “You were nothing. No one. I picked you up and moulded you like clay, all you are is because of me.”

James’ eyes widened and his mind went blank. There weren’t any flowers, not anymore. “I- I don’t-”

“Do not interrupt me when I’m speaking, James,” Pierce said, his hand stinging James’ face again. He stumbled back and Pierce followed even further into the foyer. James looked out the still open door and was once again was thankful that the street was fairly quiet - there was no one to see his shame.

“I made you and I can tear you down,” Pierce said. “Not just you, but whatever sap you’ve tricked into dating you as well.”

“Alex, leave him out of th-” the wind was knocked out of James, and somehow he found himself on the floor, slightly dazed. He didn’t know how he got there, but it brought forth the most horrific form of deja vu to James mind, and there was nothing he could do to escape it.

“I really wish you hadn’t made me do that, James,” Pierce asked, crouching down to look at him. James didn’t react, merely stared straight ahead, focusing on the pattern on the carpet. “I’m a patient man, but you’ve spent too long making a mockery of me. You’re an asset. Your happiness should never be at my expense.”

“Leave,” James croaked, trying to hold onto the glimmer of something bright. But it was too far away. It was out of his reach.

“Oh James, you know I’ll only leave once you tell me what I want to hear. You’re too fiery. Too tempestuous. It’s always been your problem. I tried to help you with that, but you wouldn’t accept it. You had your chance to change your ways, to be happy with me, and you threw it away.”

James frowned, his system was shutting down and he couldn’t quite grasp what was happening to him. Vaguely, he remembered the words that had always pacified Pierce in the past. “I understand,” James said hollowly. “Good,” Pierce said, straightening up and looking down at him with a contemptuous sneer. “Look at you, lying on the floor. Pathetic.”

A tear trickled down James’ cheek but he said nothing. What could he say to that? How could he even react?

“I’ll see myself out,” Pierce said after several long moments, a hint of impatience in his voice. “Since you seem incapable of even that simple courtesy. You’ve always been my greatest disappointment James, I hope you know that.”

He tried to nod, but he could barely move his head. Pierce gave an exasperated sigh and left.

James wasn’t entirely sure how long he lay there, although it must have been a while. He was vaguely aware of noises coming from his phone in the living room, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to with that information. Eventually, he seemed to slowly rise to the surface of his mind, though the pain and humiliation still prevailed.

He sat up and sucked in a breath, suddenly all too aware of the stinging pain on his face and in his ribs. He stood with some difficulty, and hobbled into the living room to grab his phone. He looked at the screen for a second, and saw a number of messages from Steve. But his mind shuddered back. He couldn’t deal with that. Not now.

He pocketed the phone and made his way torturously to his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers, trying desperately to dispel the memories of his time with Pierce from his mind.

He couldn’t do it.

He was weak.

He had always been weak.

For a while he had foolishly believed that he could be an adjective: happy, worthy; or maybe even a verb: loved, respected. He had tricked himself into thinking that he could have more than he deserved - to _be_ more than he deserved.

He felt a fresh wave of hot tears roll down his cheeks, but he made no move to wipe them away. They were a testament to his weakness.

Because deep down, James knew the truth. He wasn’t a verb, or an adjective. He was a noun. A single noun.

He was nothing.

* * *

Steve’s day began with a smile. To be fair, most of his days had begun with a smile since Bucky had come into his life, but in the two weeks since Bucky had called him his boyfriend, the smile had pretty much not left his face.

He stretched for a moment, and then reached for his phone. It had become a little ritual to send Bucky a good morning text. Natasha had even begun the apparently painstaking process of teaching Steve how to use emoticons and emojis. He’d picked it up almost instantly, but he loved how exasperated it made his friends act when he misused them.

**Steve:** Morning gorgeous :-*

**Bucky:** Morning babe, nice to hear from ya.

**Steve:** You too! What’re your plans for the day? Nat mentioned you were having a ‘girls night in’ with her or something?

Steve lay in bed for a while, idly waiting for Bucky to reply. Eventually, it became apparent that he wasn’t going to for a while. Steve swallowed his disappointment - after all, they both got busy, and sometimes they didn’t always answer their texts straight away.

He went about his morning routine as usual. He had breakfast, answered some inane emails from Tony, and some serious ones from Rhodey, and went for a run. If he checked his phone more than usual, well, he just told himself that he just didn’t want to miss Bucky’s reply.

As the morning progressed, Steve sent a few more texts and got nothing back. He didn’t want to worry, but by this point it had become a little odd. He placated himself with the knowledge that Bucky wasn’t being active in the Horde either, although he wasn’t quite at the point where he’d sink low enough to ask Natasha or Bobbi if they’d heard from him.

He received a welcome distraction at lunchtime when Sharon showed up. She was in the middle of shooting a new TV show about a woman who seeks revenge on the socialites who had her father falsely imprisoned, so Steve was slightly surprised to see her.

“Can’t say I thought I’d see you,” he said, kissing her on the cheek as he let her in.

She gave him a shrug and her patented mysterious smile. “They’ve finished shooting the bits they needed from me for the day, and I decided to come see you before going home.”

Steve nodded appreciatively. “Well it’s definitely nice to see you,” he said, leading her into the house. “I was just making some lunch, do you want some?”

“I wouldn’t say no,” she said with a little grin. He laughed good naturedly, his stress about Bucky almost forgotten.

She took a seat at the kitchen bench and Steve moved about, gathering the necessary elements for grilled cheese. They chatted amicably about their weeks and compared their weekend plans. It was nice, and Steve definitely found himself calming down.

“Why do you keep checking your phone?” Sharon asked suddenly.

Steve looked up with a start, and hastily pocketed the device. “I don’t.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Seriously Steve, that was like the fourth time since I got here.”

Steve blushed. “I haven’t heard from Bucky today, apart from one text and I’m getting myself a bit worked up.”

“Oh god look at you with your puppy dog eyes!” she said with a look of such overwhelming empathy that Steve was touched to the quick by it. “I’m sure everything’s fine. He’s probably left his phone somewhere or something equally stupid.”

Steve felt some of the tension leave his chest. “You think?”

“I mean I don’t _know_ but I’ve seen the two of you, you fit together. You flow.”

Steve felt a goofy grin spread across his face. “We do don’t we?”

“Yes,” she agreed, flashing him a smile of her own. “Now stop worrying about it will you?”

“Fine, fine,” he said, grinning sheepishly at her.

The chat turned to more inane topics, and Steve managed to not check his phone for a full two hours, though his hand did occasionally twitch to check it several times. When Sharon finally left, she patted Steve on the cheek.

“Don’t stress, okay? You’ve got a good thing going.”

Steve nodded and waved her off. He took out his phone and checked it - a missed call from Tony and a few messages from Natasha about meeting up when she was in LA next week, but nothing from Bucky. He sent a reply to Natasha and decided to go and distract himself with a movie.

The movie hadn’t been going long when Sam arrived home, looking drawn and utterly exhausted.

“Hey man,” Sam called as he dumped his keys near the front door.

“Hey,” Steve called back, pausing the movie. He heard Sam move through the house - putting his bag in his room, getting a drink of water in the kitchen - before he finally made his way to sit down next to Steve.

“So are you and Bucky in a fight or something?”

Steve jumped as an jolt of pure nervousness shot through him. “Why do you say that?”

“Jesus,” Sam said, eyes growing wide with concern. “You're pale as a sheet! No reason, Nat just said she hadn’t heard from Bucky all day and has barely heard from you.”

Steve frowned, this was starting to get worrying. “They’re meant to be hanging out like _now_ ,” Steve said, checking his watch and converting the time forward in his head.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “It’s a bit weird. So nothing going on with you two?”

Steve felt his face crumple, and the knot of nerves in his stomach seemed to launch itself out of his throat as words. “I don’t know! We texted this morning like usual, then nothing. I’ve sent him a few things during the day but he’s not said anything back, I’m actually pretty worried.”

Steve looked at his phone for a second and frowned. This was stupid; he was allowed to text his boyfriend. It was basically in the rules.

**Steve:** Buck are you okay? Nat says she hasn’t heard from you, and I haven’t heard from you and I’m worried about you

**Steve:** Buck please just say something I’m sorry if I’ve upset you

His face must have been a picture, because Sam swore under his breath and took out his own phone. “I’ll let Nat know, she’s been getting paranoid it was just her.”

Sam had barely sent the message when Steve’s phone rang.

“So you two aren’t in a fight?” Natasha’s asked, her voice tight with annoyance.

“Not that I know of, I mean he hasn’t spoken to me all day but he texted me once this morning-”

“I’m going to kill him,” she said, the sound of a door slamming clear behind her. “He hasn’t contacted anyone, I’ve got half a mind to text his damn sisters.”

Steve gave a laugh. It was definitely strained, but it helped release some of the tension that was quickly building up inside of him. He couldn’t lose Bucky, he meant too much to him. “Don’t do that Nat, he’d hate it.”

“I know,” she replied savagely. “Listen I’m on my way to see him okay? Call me or text me if he gets in contact.”

Steve nodded and she hung up. He got up and began pacing, knotting his fingers together in worry.

“Dude, you need to chill,” Sam said, worry clear in his voice. Steve turned to look at him nodded, taking a shuddering breath.

“Fine,” Steve replied, because he didn’t think he could do too well with words at that particular minute.

Sam unpaused the movie after a nod from Steve and they settled back into the couch to watch. They sat in silence for forty minutes, although Steve couldn’t honestly say he took in any of it. He just sat there, staring at the screen, horrible thought after horrible thought swirling through his brain. He was aware that Sam was shooting him worried glances, but he was too caught up in his own mind to respond.

He took out his phone, ignoring whatever Sam said to him.

**Steve:** Bucky please, just let me in

Steve was nearly tearing his hair out by this point. There were so many horrifying scenarios going through his head. Had something happened to Bucky? Was he hurt? Was he sick? Suddenly, his phone made a beep. Steve jumped to his feet, and Sam paused the movie.

**Bucky:** I can’t do this to you anymore Steve. It’s not fair. I can’t. I love you. I’m so sorry.

Steve’s mind went completely blank for a moment, and then he sagged to his knees, grief and shock and confusion crashing down on him like successive waves on a drowning man. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he looked at the message again. How could Bucky say this? _Why_ would Bucky say this? What had Steve done?

He was thinly aware that Sam was kneeling next to him, talking to him, but he didn’t respond. His eyes bore into the message, as if staring at it hard enough he would be able to discern the meaning behind them when his brain refused to accept the obvious.

After a moment though, his eyes settled on three devastating words. _I love you._

Steve had been trying to think of a way to tell Bucky that exact thing for a week now, matters utterly confused by conflicting advice from Sam, Nat, Bobbi, Peggy and Sharon. Even Tony had chimed in with an uncharacteristic show of sobriety when he’d told Steve to say it sooner rather than later.

In that moment though, the words gave Steve something to focus on. He sat back against the couch and dialled Natasha’s number.

“You’ve heard from him,” she asked the moment she picked up.

“He texted me,” Steve said, utterly failing to disguise the sob that seemed to unclench itself from his chest as he spoke. “He told me that he can’t do it anymore, and that he loves me, and that he’s sorry.”

There was a long pause down the line as Natasha apparently processed his words. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she said quietly at last. “You’re his world Steve. I’ve never seen him like this with anyone. Not even Pierce.”

Steve was unable to mask the despair that crept into his voice. “I don’t understand Nat, what have I done?”

She swore softly in Russian. “You haven’t done anything,” she said forcefully. “Alright I’m here. I’ll talk to you soon, Steve.”

The line went dead and Steve picked himself up off the floor. “I need a drink,” he said. Sam opened his mouth and Steve cut him off. “He just broke up with me.”

For the first time in their friendship, Sam Wilson seemed completely lost for words. The thought alone should have been funny. But it wasn’t. Steve wanted to scream.


	11. Free and Lonely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve comes to a decision and Tony is helpful. Also: Natasha holds a council of war and everyone should be very afraid indeed. 
> 
> Or: the one where the author promises that he loves you all and that things **will** get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey fam, so updates have been a bit patchy, I know. I'm moving continents next week so please forgive me if there's only one update this week and next week. We're entering into the home stretch and I promise it'll all be worth it.

The worst part was waking up. In his dreams, Steve could still pretend that everything was fine, that he and Bucky were still together. But the moment he opened his eyes, he was forced to face the truth: he didn't have Bucky anymore.

Logically he knew he was probably being overly dramatic - he and Bucky had only been seeing each other a couple of months - but it hurt all the same. He'd looked at Bucky and felt something true. Something _real_.

After Natasha had gone to see Bucky, she’d called Steve. She’d told him that Bucky was in a bad place, but they’d help him get out of it. Steve had demanded to know what was wrong, why Bucky had broken up with him, but she’d been fairly tight lipped. In the end she’d told Steve that she understood if he was too upset to stick around, but that Bucky needed him more than ever.

Steve stared up at the ceiling and brooded. If he’d been in a better mood, or less tired he probably would have come up with a better verb, but it didn’t take away from the fact that that was exactly what he was doing. Something had obviously happened, that was clear enough. Something that had made Natasha go from angry hellbeast to protective and tightlipped friend. Steve took some comfort in the fact that she was still talking to him, which meant that whatever had made Bucky freak out wasn’t completely Steve’s fault.

There was also the fact that Bucky had told Steve that he loved him. Steve flushed at the thought, a moment of giddiness piercing through his chest, before quickly being quashed by the hopelessness of the situation.

All of a sudden, Steve realized he was angry. He was sick and tired of people leaving him. His parents. Peggy. And now Bucky. But he knew, deep in his heart that if he gave up and let Bucky walk away forever that he’d never be able to live with himself. It was time to fight.

“Fuck this,” he muttered, throwing aside the cover and launching himself out of the bed. He jumped into the shower and simply let the water flow over him. He felt the pain and the hurt and the anger that he’d been carrying around inside of him wash away, replaced with a determination to fix things. He didn’t know how yet, but he was going to make things right.

He dressed quickly and headed toward the kitchen. He found Sam leaning against the kitchen bench with a newspaper spread out in front of him.

“Hey man,” Sam said, eyeing Steve carefully.

“Hey,” Steve replied evenly, walking past him and opening the fridge.

Sam squared his shoulders and stood a bit straighter. “So how’re you doing?”

Steve took a carton of his milk from the fridge and took a long swig. “Angry and tired,” he replied matter of factly.

Sam winced. “Listen, I know that Bucky fucked up but-”

Steve shook his head. “Yeah he broke up with me and it sucks, but I think there’s more.” He turned and looked at Sam. “I think something happened and he freaked out. Maybe it was something I did, maybe it wasn’t, but I’m not giving up on this without a fight.”

“Really?” Sam asked, surprise evident in his voice. “I thought you’d want to stay away forever man. No one would blame you.”

Steve shrugged. “You know me, I don’t back away from a fight.”

The ghost of a smile brushed Sam’s lips. “Man do I know it.”

Steve smiled back, and Sam grinned for real. “Now there’s something I haven’t seen in a few days.”

Steve shrugged. “I decided it’s time to stop moping and start going after what I want.”

“Bucky?” Sam asked.

“Bucky,” Steve agreed. He gazed off into the distance for a moment, thinking about the last time he’d seen Bucky, and how fucking happy they’d been.

“On your left,” Sam said, walking up and bumping him on the shoulder.

Steve grinned, “Sorry, I got lost for a second.”

Sam shook his head. “Dude, it’s fine. You need help with anything, you know I’m here for you man.”

Steve gripped Sam’s shoulder for a second and nodded. “I know. You’re a good friend.”

Sam flicked his hand at Steve dismissively. “Yeah yeah and you don’t deserve me. I know it,” he joked. “So what’re you doing today?”

Steve frowned, mentally going over the things he’d been avoiding for the last few days. “I probably have to go take Tony those signed contracts.” He gave Sam a penetrating look for a second. Tony hadn’t been riding him over it, which meant that Sam had probably said something.

Sam looked utterly unrepentant. “Yeah man, get you outta the house. Do you want me to come with?”

Steve chewed on his lip for a moment and then smiled. “Yeah, I think that’d be nice? Spending time with you occasionally is like doing some charity work.”

“Oh that’s how it is?”

“Oh yeah, that’s how it is.”

*

The drive to Tony’s offices took longer than it probably should have, but Steve didn’t particularly mind. He and Sam spent the entire trip laughing and joking and making small talk. He knew that Sam was still worried about him, and occasionally some of the jokes he fired at Steve were a bit brittle, but he was trying and that’s what mattered.

They parked and then caught the elevator up to Tony’s offices on the forty-second floor. When they arrived, the receptionist let them through with a friendly, if vaguely bored smile. Steve relaxed a little. Wednesday was a massive gossip, and if she’d heard about him and Bucky she would have been all over him.

Rhodey was a different story. He didn’t actually say anything to Steve, but his posture and demeanor were clearly of someone who didn’t quite know how to behave in the situation. Steve threw Sam a look and he immediately became fascinated with his phone. “I’m fine,” he said to Rhodey, avoiding any awkwardness in favor of straight talking. “Some stuff came up, but everything’ll work out.”

Rhodey nodded. “If you need anything…”

“I’ll let you know,” Steve replied, trying a grin on for size. He was fairly sure it fell a bit flat, but Rhodey smiled back anyway. Steve handed over his signed contract, ignoring the thrum of nerves that surged through him as he did so. “Do you need anything else?”

Rhodey shook his head. “Thanks Steve but we’re good. I’ll send this over to Fury’s people today.” Sam coughed behind them and Rhodey pulled a face. “You should probably go in and see Tony? He’s pretty worried about you, big guy.”

Steve sighed and felt his shoulders slump, but he nodded. Tony was his friend, and if nothing else it would’ve been rude for Steve to not see him in his own damn offices. He left Sam with Rhodey and made his way to Tony’s offices.

When he got there he found the man slumped back into his chair, studiously ignoring the three huge monitors in front of him. Steve knocked on the door frame and gave a half grin when Tony looked up at him. “Hi Tony.”

Tony broke out into a grin and sat up in his chair. “Steve, great to see you big guy,” he said expansively, gesturing to the free seat in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”

He was being way too pleasant and Steve narrowed his eyes. “You know, don’t you?”

“Know what? I don't know anything I just pretend really well.”

Steve sat down and rolled his eyes. “Tony.”

“Steven?”

“ _Tony._ ” Tony rolled his eyes and slumped back in his chair again. “Fine yes a little bird told me.”

“A little bird named Sam?” Steve asked, amused despite himself.

“Well I mean really he's more of a Falcon now,” Tony hedged, referring to Sam’s newly written character.

Steve made a noise that was part exasperation and part amusement. “Well now you know, I’m sure you're going to give me the number of some model to go fuck-”

“You kissed your mother with those lips?” Tony asked, but Steve merely waved his hand. He’d always appreciated the fact that Tony hadn’t tiptoed around him in regards to his parents. It made things so much easier.

“But I’m not taking this one lying down,” Steve finished emphatically.

Tony looked at him steadily for a moment and then nodded. “Good”

“Good?” Steve asked, feeling a bit less sure of himself. This was not the reaction he’d been expecting.

“Good,” Tony agreed.

“Why good?” Steve asked cautiously, still feeling oddly out of depth.

Tony shrugged. “I spoke to Pep and she was of the opinion that there was more to this than I knew about,” he said simply.

Steve's heart began to race slightly. “More? More what? What exactly did she say?”

“Well her exact words were: ‘Shut up Tony, I'll let you know who I want you to help destroy when the time comes’ which I think you’ll agree was a bit unsettling.”

Steve groaned. “ _Very_ unsettling, also unhelpful.”

Tony scoffed. “My wife is very frightening Steve, I tend to hold on for dear life and not ask too many questions.”

“So you have no idea?” Steve asked, a little crestfallen.

“You want Genuine Advice With Tony time?”

Steve groaned but nodded. “Damn it, but I think I do.”

Tony scratched his chin consideringly. “I think something happened to spook your boy toy. Some blast from the past or scary situation rattled him bad and he lashed out at everyone.” He winked at Steve. “I’ve done the same thing before, I know the signs.”

“So what should I do?” Steve asked.

Tony snorted again. “Do that whole heroic thing you do. Y’know, stand tall, monologue, don't back down from a fight.”

“So what're you saying?”

“I’m saying that you make him talk to you. The kid’s crazy about you. I saw you two at the restaurant. Those gross love feelings don't just go away. Besides, I’m starting to have an idea.”

Steve leaned back into his seat and felt a proper smile bloom on his face. “Something you wanna share with the class, Tony?”

Tony winked and shook his head. “Just wait and see, Cap. Just wait and see.”

* * *

Natasha Romanoff was a patient woman. Her upbringing had been unconventional to say the least, and it had instilled within her a tolerance for the boring, the tiresome, the horrible, and the profane. The fact that she had reached the end of her patience was therefore something of note.

In the space of a single day, her best friend had gone from deliriously happy and in love with one of the most upstanding and good men Natasha had ever met, to devastated and incapacitated by wounds Natasha had thought were long healed.

The situation was untenable, and it was very clear to Natasha who was to blame: Alexander Pierce, although admittedly in her head he had ceased to have a name and had simply become ‘dead man walking’ but that was immaterial. From what she’d been able to draw out of James, he’d shown up at his door and jumped straight into his usual gaslighting bullshit. The ugly bruises blossoming on his cheeks were testament to the fact that Pierce hadn’t only used his words to cut James down, and it had taken a considerable amount of self-control to stop Natasha from going out and doing something Pierce would regret.

She’d managed to get James to go to sleep and had stayed with him for a few days, letting the various people in her friend’s life - Steve, Pepper, his sisters - know that something had happened but leaving the specifics purposely vague with everyone except Bobbi (who guessed) and Darcy. Sam, to her eternal gratitude, hadn’t actually directly asked what had happened, opting to leave it up to her to let him know what she could. Peggy and Sharon unfortunately, had not been as accommodating. Which is how she found herself in Los Angeles, driving to Bobbi’s monstrosity of a house to discuss matters.

“You have to tell them,” Bobbi said without any preamble when she opened the door to let Natasha in.

Natasha quirked an eyebrow and brushed her lips on her friend's cheek, but remained pointedly silent.

Bobbi rolled her eyes and then beckoned Natasha to follow her inside. “I don’t mean tell them everything. Dishing all of the dirt on the fucked up things that man has pulled on Bucky’d take a week,” she said, leading the way into the kitchen and grabbing them both a beer. “Besides, it’d break all sorts of confidences and you know I’m not into that shit.”

Natasha felt her shoulders relax and she nodded, graciously accepting one of the beers. “You’re right though. The shit with Pierce was none of anyone else’s business, but the asshole’s made it everyone’s business by fucking James over.”

“I can’t believe the fucker showed up,” Bobbi said with a sigh.

“I can,” Natasha replied darkly. She remembered well the night years before when James had finally called and asked for her help. Pierce had left for a twelve week stint in Prague that day, leaving James bruised and bloodied after he’d refused to stop working to go with him. It had been the final straw for James, and Natasha had been nearly delirious with joy as she helped him pack up his life and move across the country. Pepper and Nick Fury had been instrumental in helping them, and had shielded James from much of the fallout, but Natasha had always known that Pierce would never let things go completely. He’d always seen James as his personal plaything, and it had only been a matter of time until he’d tried something on. However, she and Pepper had always planned for him trying to ruin James’ career, not confronting him personally.

Bobbi snapped her fingers and made a disgusted sound. “We really should have snapped the asshole’s neck when we had the chance.”

Natasha shrugged and gave a small smile. “You know we’re both too pretty for prison.”

"You and I both know we'd own prison. We're the best at everything," Bobbi retorted.

"Anyway," Natasha continued with a roll of her eyes. "We still have to work out what we're going to do." 

“I agree,” Bobbi said approvingly. “Also, Peggy and Sharon should be here any minute to discuss what the hell is going on.”

Natasha nearly fell out of her chair. It wasn’t particularly graceful, and if she’d been with anyone other than Bobbi she would have had to kill them for seeing her so uncoordinated. “What?” she asked indignantly.

Bobbi gave her a steady look and Natasha nearly winced, it was the look that told her that she’d lost already. “They’re our friends, and they have a vested interest too. They may not care about Bucky as much as we do, but they care about Steve.”

Natasha let out a long sigh. “Fine. But I’m not comfortable about telling them everything.”

Bobbi shrugged. “You’re comfortable with just about anything and trust me Nat, we need these two to help us take down Pierce.”

Natasha’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “We’re taking Pierce down?”

The doorbell rang and Bobbi got up to answer it, but her answering grin was so vicious that Natasha almost shuddered. She’d always prided herself in choosing her friends wisely, and she was absolutely sure in that moment that she’d chosen well.

She took a few moments to regain her composure. She reached back to her childhood and plucked one of the breathing techniques that Dr. Kudrin had taught her many years before.

After a few moments, Bobbi returned with Sharon, Peggy, and several more beers. She’d obviously guessed that the type of discussion they were going to have would require a touch of fortification. Natasha couldn’t say she blamed her.

“So,” Peggy said after she and Sharon had seated themselves. “Bobbi says you’re going to fill us in on exactly what the hell is going on.”

Natasha took a sip of beer and formulated her words. “Do you know who Alexander Pierce is?”

“The director?” Sharon asked, frowning. “Sure. I worked with him on _The Neighbor_. He’s a bit of a weird guy, but then directors can be.”

“I’ve not had the pleasure,” Peggy added, still frowning at Natasha.

“It’s not a pleasure, trust us,” Bobbi replied darkly.

Natasha shot her a quelling look, and then settled back into her chair. “If you want to know what’s happened to James, you have to know a little about us.”

“Life story time,” Sharon joked.

“Sharon, hush,” Peggy snapped.

A ghost of a smile touched Natasha’s lips and she winked at Sharon. “You both know I think that James and I met during college. When we were eighteen, he was this utterly gorgeous guy. Seriously, it was bizarre how many of the people in our building were in love with him. Every single girl on my floor had swooned over him at one point or another. It was ridiculous.” She took a sip of her beer and smiled to herself. “He was different then: cockier, I guess. Self assured in that insufferable way that American men always seem to be.”

Peggy snorted and Natasha grinned. “I’d seen him a few times in class - we were both doing drama. So one day after my suitemate had spent the better part of an hour discussing his perfect cheekbones, I lost my patience and went and asked him out.”

Bobbi chuckled, having heard the story multiple times over the years. Sharon however was looking quietly amused. “You _dated_ Bucky?”

“No,” Natasha corrected. “When I asked him out, he laughed. I was hugely offended, I mean half the football, lacrosse, and hockey teams had been sniffing around me since I’d got there. So I did what anyone would do, and hit him.”

Peggy snorted and nearly dropped her drink. “You didn’t!”

“I did,” Natasha retorted with a grin. “Anyway, he came out to me on the spot, admitting that he was currently screwing two of the rookies on the heavyweight rowing team. I found that hilarious for some reason, and we ended up sitting on the floor of his room chatting all night. We’ve been friends ever since. He’s my best friend in the entire world, and I know him better than I know myself. It’s important that you understand that in order to completely get what I’m going to tell you next.”

Peggy and Sharon exchanged frowns, but said nothing. Natasha took another swig of her beer. “When we graduated, we moved out here and struggled as you normally do. Bit parts, commercials, we both did a bit of modelling, and shot some truly horrific indie films.” She put her empty beer down on table and took a deep breath. “We’d both begun making a name of ourselves, getting some well received roles. We were happy.”

Bobbi handed Natasha another beer, and she nodded her thanks absently. “It all changed when James met Pierce. He’s this-” she groped around for the correct phrase for a beat. “ _Electric_ personality I suppose you could say. James was smitten, absolutely captivated by him and in the beginning things seemed to be going well.”

“I feel like I’m not going to like where this is going,” Peggy said, her voice dangerous and quiet.

Natasha shrugged, she’d begun now and she had to see it through. Had to reveal these secrets for the good of her friend. “I never particularly liked him, although he helped me get a leg up in the industry. Introduced us to someone who introduced us to Pepper, that sort of thing.” She took another sip of her drink. “James began to… diminish is the right word I suppose. Pierce seemed to grow and grow and James shrank back to accommodate him. He lost his cockiness, his swagger. Sometimes I’d call him and our conversation would be in whispers.”

“Oh god,” Sharon groaned, closing her eyes in horror.

“I’ll always remember the night though, when James turned up at my door at two o’clock in the morning,” Natasha said sadly. “There were bruises on his arms, and chest, and on his neck. He couldn’t stop crying.” She looked out over Bobbi’s back garden, suddenly feeling cold in the ninety degree weather. “He wouldn’t tell me what happened, but I knew.”

“That Pierce was a fucking psychopath?” Peggy asked.

“Yeah,” Natasha agreed. “I let him stay the night and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t speak. The next morning Pierce showed up at my door. I wouldn’t let him in, but he yelled through the door to James. Said he was sorry, said he’d change and he,” she shut her eyes for a moment. “James went with him.”

Peggy had shut her eyes, and Sharon was looking stricken. Bobbi looked stoic as usual, but then she’d heard this story with tequila and lemon and salt years before so the pain was probably numbed for her. “There’s a lot of red in my ledger. But letting James go back with Pierce that day, that’s the worst. I tried to reason with James, I tried to talk to him, help him, but he wouldn’t listen.” She took a sip and shut her eyes. “We fought about it. He said it was none of my business, I told him anything to do with him was my business.”

“This is excruciating,” Peggy said softly.

“I’ll spare you the details of the four months and twelve days that James wouldn’t speak to me, but in the end Pierce went too far. He was directing some pretentious art film in Prague over the summer and he’d demanded that James come with him.”

“What, and just drop everything he was working on?” Sharon exploded.

Natasha nodded. “James said no, obviously. So Pierce threw him down a flight of stairs and kicked the shit out of him.” Her words were carefully calm and emotionless, but their effect on the two women across from her was obvious - they both looked physically ill. “Luckily James and I have done some stunt training so we know how to fall, because he wasn’t too badly injured.”

“Jesus,” Sharon said with a shudder.

“Please tell me he left?” Peggy said pleadingly.

Natasha nodded. “He called me and asked me to come get him. He was bloodied and bruised and had a couple of broken bones, but I’d never been prouder of him.” She looked at them steadily. “They were going into pre-production for Winter Soldier so we knew Nick by then. He and Pepper organized to have movers get all of James’ things out and we both moved to New York.”

“You just left?” Sharon asked, her surprise evident. “I mean I know you guys don’t live here but I didn’t realize it was so…”

“So much of who Bucky is as a person _now_ , comes from getting over what happened _then_ ,” Bobbi said softly.

Natasha took a swig of her drink and nodded. “When we first moved James was so… lost I suppose you could say. He’d get lost inside his head for days and wouldn’t come out for anyone. It’s terrifying.”

“Okay so I see why Bucky is the way he is,” Peggy said slowly. “But this doesn’t-” she stopped and looked at Natasha in horror.

“Pierce paid James a visit in New York,” Natasha confirmed, ignoring the gasps her words brought. “James didn’t clarify, but I’m guessing he must have seen Steve and James out in L.A. or been told by a mutual friend.”

“Fuck,” Sharon groaned. “Is Buck okay?”

Natasha shrugged. “Pierce socked him a couple of times, but the bulk of the damage isn’t physical; he’s shut down and gone inside himself again.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Pushing everyone away from him is a defense mechanism I think. That’s what I’ve tried to tell Steve. He _loves_ Steve and thinks he’s not good enough for him.”

There was a long pause as Sharon and Peggy looked at one another, apparently having some sort of silent conversation. “Well then,” Peggy said briskly. “It seems fairly clear what we need to do.”

“Oh?” Bobbi asked, shooting Natasha a quizzical look. That had definitely gone down easier than either of them had expected.

“Step one, get Bucky and Steve back together because they need each other,” Sharon said firmly.

“Step two take down Alexander Pierce so hard that people actually tremble about his fate,” Peggy finished.

Natasha felt herself grin: they’d definitely picked well with these two.

“Right we need ice cream,” Bobbi said decisively.

“What?” Natasha asked.

“When Nat first told me this, she and I went and woke Bucky up and made him come get ice cream with us. Besides, if we’re going to do some plotting we need ice cream.”

“Then let’s get some damn ice cream,” Sharon said.

Natasha smiled again. This was going to be fun.


	12. Put You Back Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky tries really hard to be okay, and Sam holds a council of war in which he realises that the women in his life terrify him. 
> 
> Or: things will get better, I promise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry so much for the time in between updates! I moved from the United Kingdom back to Australia and everything was a bit hectic and stressful for a while. 
> 
> Thanks for your patience, you're all amazing.

There were times when James - _Bucky_ \- wondered what the hell he’d done to deserve the women in his life. Sometimes this was a positive feeling - like when his mom and little sister showed up to clean for him - and sometimes it was a bad feeling - like when Natasha and Bobbi physically dragged him out to pick up his new tuxedo for the awards ceremony Pepper and Nick had convinced him to attend the following week.

“C’mon Bucky, get your ass out here and show us how it looks,” Bobbi called from the plush red couch she and Natasha were seated on. Bucky exchanged a long glance with the heavily amused tailor, and then walked out to show them the suit.

“Damn you look good,” Natasha said, her eyes travelling up and down him slowly. “Maybe I should get them to make me a tux.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, but was secretly pleased. He’d been dreading coming out to do this - the alternating feelings of crushing emptiness and debilitating self loathing he’d been battling for the last two weeks hadn’t exactly left him in a good mood.

“I totally approve of the tux idea,” Bobbi agreed approvingly, before turning to eye Bucky critically. “Especially if you pair it with a new haircut.”

Bucky’s hands flew to his head, and he self-consciously smoothed his hair back. The studio had been in touch and had asked him if he’d be okay with cutting his hair shorter for the movie. They’d also mentioned that Natasha would be sporting a shorter look. “C’mon,” he said quietly, almost as if he’d forgotten what it was like to speak out loud. “You said the hair looked okay.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at him. “It _does_ look okay asshole, stop fishing for compliments.”

Bobbi gave Natasha a disgusted look. “Fishing for compliments is the basis for our friendship, Nat.”

“Yes,” Natasha agreed, winking at Bucky. “The basis of _our_ friendship. If James wants compliments he’d better look elsewhere for them.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and snorted, the banter pulling a smile from him like an abscessed tooth. He took a moment to be thankful for his friends and the fact that they made him feel normal, even when he felt like his insides were torn to pieces. “So can I go take this off yet?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at them. “I’m tired.”

The smile faltered on Natasha’s lips for a moment. “Do you need to go home-”

Bucky shook his head violently. “No, _no._ I just wanna get this bagged up so they can messenger it back to my place.”

There was an awkward silence, which was thankfully filled by the tailor. “If you're happy with the cut and feel Mr. Barnes?” she asked quietly.

Bucky turned and smiled at her. “Very, thanks. It's great actually.”

The tailor nodded, looking pleased. “If you go and change out of it, I can have it sent directly over to you.”

Bucky nodded and headed back into the changing room. Today was actually a fairly good day. Natasha and Bobbi were clearly doing their best to make him feel as normal as possible, and while he'd caught a few looks between them, he was grateful for the effort.

But as he got undressed he looked down at his phone and was struck with the overwhelming urge to text Steve. It hit him with an almost physical viscerality that made him want to go curl up in a ball and cry. There was a physical ache inside Bucky’s chest at the thought of the man and how much he’d fucked everything up with him. Every time he looked at his phone Bucky desperately wanted to call him, tell him how stupid this whole thing was. But he didn’t of course. He couldn’t.

The therapist that his mother and Natasha had dragged him into seeing had told him that he definitely needed to talk to Steve, but that he would have to prepare himself for not necessarily liking the outcome. Bucky had managed to wait until he was safely in the confines of his house before completely falling apart at _that_ particular cheery thought.

There was a cough from the fitting room. “You okay Buck,” Bobbi asked. Bucky wiped an errant tear and nodded, before realizing that she couldn’t see him. “Yeah sorry, just uh… Yeah, I’ll be out in a sec.”

“Okay, well Nat’s just got a phone call that’s making her grab at her hair protectively so we probably need to head off…”

Bucky felt a shard of amusement push its way through the pain in his chest, and he focused on it with every fibre of his being. “Just let me put my pants on okay?” He heard her disappear and he quickly hung the suit on its hangers and threw his clothes back on.

He went out and found that Bobbi and Natasha had both left. “They’ve gone outside,” the tailor informed him with an amused smirk.

Bucky grinned back in response - convincingly enough that her smile widened. “I’ll have Pietro run the suit over to you this evening if you’d like, Mr. Barnes.”

He grinned and nodded. “That’d be great, thanks.” He wandered over to the elevator and hummed to himself tunelessly as it descended down to street level.

“There you are,” Natasha cried accusingly as he stepped out onto the sidewalk. “You knew about this!”

“They’ve asked you to cut your hair?” Bucky guessed, and failed spectacularly to hide his amusement when she nodded. “I don’t see the problem? You look great with shorter hair.”

“Exactly what I said,” Bobbi added cheerfully. “Plus they can’t _make_ you cut it. They’ll just give you a wig or something.”

Natasha pulled a face, and Bucky smirked. “You’ve got a little while to decide. I did mine for something to do.”

“Besides,” Bobbi added, linking her arm with Bucky’s. “Do you think you could pull it off?”

Bucky opened his mouth to retort, but Bobbi’s shit eating grin stopped him. “Bitch I’d look fabulous with short hair,” Natasha retorted.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “She just played you.”

“Reverse psychology,” Natasha replied with a shrug. “I am aware. But really, I never have diva moments, I wanted to see what it was like.”

“You’re too much sometimes do you know that?” Bucky asked with a sigh.

“It’s hair. I’d look amazing with one of those fabulous undercuts, let alone shoulder length hair,” she threw back.

“Children, children, be nice,” Bobbi said. “Also, we’re being papped so you know.”

Bucky looked over to where a shady looking guy was busily snapping photos of them. The action drew the attention of a few more people and Bucky felt a thrum of anxiety spread through his system.

Natasha took swift action, sticking her hand out and summoning a taxi in the frighteningly implausible way she always seemed to be able to manage, and Bucky was quickly tucked in it and on the way to another gastronomically inclined area that didn’t have people taking photographs of him.

In a relatively short amount of time, they were deposited in front of one of their favorite restaurants - a Korean barbecue place that had the best kimchi pancakes they’d found in the city. Bucky looked around as casually as he could muster, and didn’t see any photographers. He relaxed and grinned at Bobbi who was watching him carefully. Usually they didn’t bother him, but he’d been feeling out of sorts lately for obvious reasons.

They walked into the restaurant and were immediately seated (against the rather shrill protests of a group of socialites) at their usual table at the back. Bucky fidgeted with the napkin in front of him absently while Bobbi and Natasha perused the menu. He managed to let his thoughts drift off pleasantly, not particularly thinking about anything.

He sat there in contemplative silence for several minutes until Natasha made a noise. He blinked owlishly and looked at her. “Sorry, what did you say?” Bucky asked a little sheepishly. His friends rolled their eyes at one another and Bucky dropped his gaze for a moment.

“I asked what do you think of the updated scripts?” Natasha asked, her words oddly gentle at odds with the impatience that had colored her voice just a moment prior.

Bucky took a sip of his drink thoughtfully. He had a lot of scenes with Steve, which could end up being very painful. “The writing’s amazing, I’m really excited to take the character a bit further.”

“I’m just glad they’re fleshing out our damn character backgrounds,” Bobbi said with a pleased sigh. Her character had been fleshed out in a really interesting way, and Bucky was actually really excited to see her play the role.

“Yeah I like what they did with you,” Bucky agreed, a hint of earnestness entering his voice.

“Right,” Bobbi agreed with a tight smile. “I was given sort of hints to it to help with the way I played her but it’s fun to see a lot more come to the surface.”

“Plus little miss red in her ledger over here,” Bucky added, winking at Natasha.

“Oh shut up,” she shot back with a roll of her eyes. She was actually smiling though, and it made Bucky feel considerably better.

“Hey now,” Bucky said defensively. “I love ninety-year-old Soviet grandmothers.”

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up freezer burn,” Natasha shot back, and Bucky actually cracked up laughing.

“Oooooh,” he cooed back at her. “Someone’s touchy about their age.”

Bobbi laughed and shook her head. “You two, god! Anyway I was talking to St-” There was a pause in which she and Natasha exchanged a look. “Sam about-”

Bucky’s heart cracked a little bit, but he put on a smile. “You can say Steve you know.” They both looked at him, and he rolled his eyes at them with a huff of annoyance. “What? I’m not made of glass. I fucked up. He’s gonna be in the movies with us so I’ll have to get over it.”

“I just think you should talk to-” Bobbi started.

“No,” Bucky said, shaking his head firmly.

“Bucky,” Natasha said, reaching over to touch his hand.

Bucky frowned. She only ever called him Bucky when she was worried about him or incredibly angry with him. “No,” he said again. “Not yet, please just let me be fine and normal for one fucking hour.”

There was another pregnant pause. “Fine, I was talking to Steve about it,” Bobbi said finally. “Apparently he’s really interested in playing the young man out of time angle - says it’ll be an interesting challenge.”

Bucky nodded thoughtfully. “He’ll be good at it.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Natasha said, raising her glass of water. Bucky’s lips quirked and he toasted her with his own.

“Cheers,” he said, echoed a moment later by Bobbi.

Thankfully, the rest of the lunch continued in a far more relaxed vein, and Bucky was able to make it through the entire thing while keeping himself together.

When he finally got home he shut his eyes and leaned back against the front door. He waited for a few minutes, to be sure that his friends had left before he slowly crumbled to the ground. Jarring sobs spasmed out of him in gut-wrenching intervals without any regard for his comfort or ability to breathe properly.

He was so, so tired. He was so, so lost.

* * *

Sam Wilson was a good friend. Or at least, he tried to be. He wasn’t always completely successful, but he’d always figured that sometimes trying was all you could do.

At first he’d been really damn angry at Bucky, not understanding how or why he could break up with Steve when what they’d had had been so damn good. Sam’s code of honor clearly stated that he be on Steve’s side one hundred percent. It was different from when Steve and Peggy broke up, because it had happened amicably - this had been a clear case of being kicked to the curb. But then of course, he’d spoken to Tash.

Tash had explained that Bucky had received a visit from his asshole ex, and given what he assumed was a very cut back version of what had gone down that day. The fact that she’d found Bucky curled up in a ball in his bed with massive bruises blossoming on his face and throat had given Sam pause. No one deserved that, and Sam had been forced to admit to himself that maybe there weren’t clear cut sides to take. He’d been mulling things over when Steve had finally emerged from his Cocoon of Sadness and basically told Sam that he’d decided to win Bucky back. Sam knew then and there that it was his job to help Steve do just that. After all, he did what Steve did, just slower.

His main concern had been with getting Peggy and Sharon on board with Operation Get These Idiots Back Together, because they’d been pretty pissed at Bucky. But then they’d gone to some little girl’s afternoon where all their anger at Bucky for hurting Steve had transformed into anger at Pierce, and they jumped at the chance to help Sam with his plan.

Now he was waiting for his friends to arrive. He’d asked them to meet him at his and Steve’s place, because Steve was out for a couple of hours. The only problem of course, was that they were late.

While he didn’t know Bobbi very well yet, he placed her firmly in the same box as Sharon - someone who probably wouldn’t comment on being five minutes late, but would message for anything more than that. Peggy and Natasha of course, were always on time. So the fact that they were all collectively ten minutes late gave Sam pause.

He pulled out his phone and shot a text off to Natasha.

 **Sam:** Hey, are you on the way babe?

 **Natasha:** Yeah sorry, we’re all together actually

 **Sam:** That unsettles me Tash. I am unsettled.

 **Natasha:** Good :)

 **Sam:** Natasha!

 **Natasha:** What? We’re like two minutes away! We would have been on time but Bobbi decided that we needed to stop for milkshakes

 **Natasha:** Yes we brought you an oreo one

 **Sam:** I was about to ask that important question. But why are you all together?

 **Natasha:** Carpooling reduces pollution, Samuel. It’s important

 **Sam:** You live in different parts of the city, Natalia. It doesn’t make any sense?

 **Natasha:** You’re a smartass why am I dating you

 **Sam:** I have a great ass

 **Natasha:** True

 **Natasha:** Fine. We decided to finally get our All Girl Death Squad on the road and go bash the crap out of a John

 **Sam:** Are you being serious right now?

 **Natasha:** I guess you’ll never know until you read my memoirs ;)

 **Sam:** I still don’t know if you’re being serious right now…

There was a honk from outside and Sam looked up. He grinned to himself and bounced up to answer the door, only to find all four of his friends inside and shutting the door behind them.

He blinked slowly. “Do I wanna know how you got in here?”

“I had a key cut,” Tash replied with a shrug.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and counted to five. “How?” He finally asked in as steady a voice as he could muster.

“Oh I leant her mine,” Peggy replied with a shrug. Bobbi and Sharon nodded as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“How did _you_ get a key?” he asked her, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

“I stole it from Steve and we got copies cut,” Sharon replied with a shrug.

Sam waved that away as something to deal with later. “Did it ever occur to you that giving you a key would have been a nice relationship milestone?” Sam asked tightly, eliciting titters from the other three.

Tash shrugged unconcernedly. “I’m sure it will be _very_ nice,” she assured him. “Let’s go sit somewhere shall we?”

Bobbi handed Sam an extra large milkshake and he grudgingly followed them out onto the patio.

“You may be wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today,” he started once they’d all sat down.

“To get the two idiots back together?” Tash suggested archly.

“Yeah,” Peggy agreed. “Definitely to get them back together.”

“Without a doubt,” Sharon confirmed.

“Totally,” Bobbi said, looking out over the garden. “Unless it’s for some sort of pool party which seems redundant since I have a pool as well.”

“Okay fine, you may _not_ be wondering why I gathered you all here today,” Sam said, amused despite himself. “But seriously, this whole thing sucks. Steve needs Bucky back, and Bucky deserves to realize he’s good enough.” The others all nodded at him approvingly, but Tash gave him a look that would have had him head over heels for her if he wasn’t already.

“I feel like this should have a codename,” Bobbi suggested.

Sam felt himself flush slightly; he’d already come up with one. “Project Elrond.”

“Elrond?” Sharon asked archly.

“You are such a geek, Samwise Gamgee,” Peggy said with a voice laced with exasperated amusement. “That’s from the damn Lord of the Rings.”

"It's a secret meeting. We're meeting in secret. And excuse me, did you not just do the same damn thing? Don't come for me like this man."

“I’m not a man,” she pointed out.

“Sharon, reason with her,” Sam pleaded.

“Sharon be nice, he’s trying to do a good thing,” Bobbi suggested.

“Yeah, I’m quite impressed with him,” Tash said expansively. Sam grinned down at his hands for a moment and filed _that_ away for later.

“Anyway…” Sharon prompted.

“Yes, sorry, anyway,” Sam said, shooting an utterly unrepentant Peggy a look before continuing. “I think we have a genuine chance to make something happen at the ceremony next week.” Peggy narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “I have thoughts, but go on, I want to see what you have.”

Sam gave her a lazy grin. “Oh he thinks he’s so smart,” Tash despaired, and Sam winked at her.

“Well Fury’s being honored at the ceremony right? So we’re all going to be at a table together,” Sam said lightly.

“Peggy and Tony will be at our table too I think,” Bobbi suggested with a grin.

“Plus we might all end up on the stage with him…” Sharon suggested. Sam grinned at her, she’d always been one of his favorites.

“Exactly, lots of opportunities for us to throw them together,” Sam finished with a smirk.

Peggy frowned. “Will that be enough? I mean just throwing them together seems like a trope from some sort of romantic comedy.”

“Yeah, I mean I know Steve is all about forgiveness and truth and all that All American Boy bullshit, but he was pretty hurt?” Sharon suggested. “Plus I mean, Bucky might not be willing to go with it?”

Sam frowned unhappily, but was cut off from any further doubts by Bobbi who sounded very smug. “Oh trust us, Bucky is absolutely miserable.”

“You sound way too happy about that,” Sharon said.

“Yeah that’s a bit cold Bob,” Sam added.

“What she means is that he’s in love with Steve. Like, actually in love with him and now that he’s come out of his Pierce-induced funk, he’s missing Steve like crazy,” Tash said soothingly.

Sam sucked his teeth thoughtfully. “Why the hell hasn’t he reached out then?”

“Probably because he’s a man, and men are stupid,” Peggy sighed. “No offense.”

Sam shrugged; what could he say to that?

“Because,” Tash replied with rolled eyes. “He knows he’s hurt Steve and he doesn’t want to hurt him more.”

“He also assumes that Steve wants nothing to do with him now,” Bobbi added.

Sam groaned. “These guys, honestly.”

“So anyway,” Sharon said. “We sit them together at the ceremony?”

“Yeah,” Sam agreed, smirking at them. “Plus I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to get them alone together backstage. I figure we throw them together and make them talk it out. I’m sick of everyone being sad and mopey.”

Bobbi reached across and tapped Tash on the wrist. “You picked well Natalia.”

“So it seems,” Tash replied, smirking.

Sam felt himself flush again. “We’ll work out the details on the day?”

“We’ll have Bucky ready,” Bobbi agreed, a hint of steel in her eyes.

“And we’ll have Steve ready,” Peggy affirmed.

Sam nodded and then sat up slightly straighter. “Okay, so now we need to deal with Pierce,” he said firmly.

“Trust us, that’s already happening,” Sharon replied with a smirk.

Sam looked around at them suspiciously. “Hold on a minute, you all arrived here together - late, may I add...”

“Look we brought you a milkshake, even is even,” Peggy cut in.

“Were you off beating the living shit out of Alexander Pierce? Because I for one would be very hurt if I weren’t able to get some punches in for my boy,” he finished firmly.

“Physical violence wouldn’t do any good,” Tash replied quietly.

“He’s a sadist, he’d probably get off on it,” Bobbi agreed.

“That too,” Tash agreed. “Four women beating him is something he’s probably paid for before?”

“So where were you,” Sam pressed, steadfastly ignoring _that_ particular mental image.

“We had a lunch meeting,” Peggy replied.

“A _very_ successful lunch meeting,” Tash agreed.

“Oh, with who?” Sam asked curiously.

“Pepper Potts and Carol Danvers,” Sharon said, winking at Sam.

Sam brushed past the fact that they’d lunched with Tash and Bucky’s manager. “Who the hell’s Carol Danvers?”

“Carol Danvers is Bucky’s sister,” Bobbi replied as if it were obvious.

“She writes under Danvers, as a sort of professional pen name,” Tash added.

Sam’s eyes widened slightly. “She _writes_ under Danver-” he paused. “Wait that journalist that won the Pulitzer...?”

“The very same,” Peggy agreed.

Sam closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Sharon and Peggy were more than enough trouble to be getting on with, but Bobbi and Tash had added entirely new dimensions to the mix that were almost frightening. “Do I want to know?”

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” Peggy said, and Sam was pretty sure she was quoting from something.

“What?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s from the _Art of War_ ,” Sharon replied helpfully.

“Pierce is a proud man, Sam. He holds his pride above anything else,” Tash said with a chilling smile.

“Okay,” he said, a grin splitting across his face. “So?”

“So we will take everything from him. What he did to Bucky, what he did before and since, he deserves nothing less,” Bobbi said.

“Okay,” Sam said slowly. “I wanna help. Fill me in.”

He was met by four identical smiles, and was suddenly very, very glad they were on his side.


	13. It Will Follow The Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is an awkward awards ceremony, a reconciliatory blow job, and a confrontation a long time in the making.
> 
> Or: the one where Steve and Bucky make up, and then Bucky gets the last word

To say that the awards ceremony was an awkward affair was something of an understatement. Steve hadn’t even really been looking forward to the ceremony in the first place, even with the fact that Nick Fury was being honored and up for an award. His unease had increased tenfold when he’d gotten wind of the fact that he and Bucky were to be seated next to one another. Sam had dropped it to him apologetically, almost like he was embarrassed to have to tell him at all, and Steve had been a little touched. So touched that he’d waved it aside and said that he was fine with it.

And then the reality of the situation had sunk in. He wanted to talk to Bucky, sure. _Desperately_ even, but he was less than keen at the thought of doing in front of a table full of mutual friends inside a theatre packed with people, including a metric shitton of media.

Nevertheless, the day of reckoning arrived, and Steve managed to enjoy himself. He arrived with Sharon and they’d managed to make quite the dashing couple on the red carpet. A correspondent who had noticed that fact and pointed it out to them both in an interview, had been slightly miffed at the incredulous look and hearty laughter she’d received at the suggestion that they were a couple. Sharon had deadpanned that she had standards, and Steve had confirmed that he was actually sort of seeing someone. He’d evaded her questions about who rather expertly, and they’d continued along the red carpet to pose for photos and sign some autographs.

He spotted Bucky at one point - a little thrill at the knowledge that he’d arrived stag thrumming treacherously through him. Their eyes had met for a moment, and then Bucky had dropped his gaze and hurried away, taking a little bit of Steve’s heart with him.

His hope that they’d all quickly make it inside to the horror of the shared table had been dashed when Tony had trotted over to them and dragged them into a group photo. Steve dithered for a moment until Sharon linked her arm with his.

“It’ll be fine,” she whispered to him bracingly.

“Will it though?” Steve asked, just as quietly.

“Yes,” she replied, shooting him a very firm look. Steve barely resisted the urge to pout, but nevertheless followed her over to the backdrop and was obediently maneuvered into position by several of Nick’s staff. After several moments of shuffling he realized that he and Bucky were being positioned next to one another by everyone else. Steve shot Sam a look, which he apparently managed not to see. He observed the way that _all_ of his and Bucky’s friends shifted obediently to put the two of them front and center and closed his eyes for a moment. Steve was actually fairly clever, and he knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, it probably could have been okay except for the fact that Bucky was shaking slightly beside him.

Steve unthinkingly placed a hand on Bucky’s back, and he stilled instantly. “Sorry,” Steve whispered. Bucky gave a jerky little nod but otherwise scrupulously avoided Steve’s eyes. Steve felt a little surge of anger, but pushed it down, knowing that it wouldn't help the situation in the slightest.

Finally they got inside, moving as a large chattering group. Steve had almost relaxed again when he suddenly remembered that he and Bucky were sitting next to one another. He gave a little groan as he sat down, and saw Bucky’s eyes dart around for a moment when he realized where he was to be seated. Obviously no one had bothered to inform _him_ of the seating arrangements because he looked utterly miserable. Despite himself, Steve was touched, and desperately wanted to reach out and take Bucky’s hand in his own.

Finally, Bucky locked eyes with Steve for a moment and then sunk into his seat. Natasha and Sam were to Bucky’s left, while Sharon, Peggy, and Peggy’s boyfriend Daniel were on Steve’s right. Nick, Tony, Pepper, and Sharon made up the rest of the table and they all had an annoying twinkle in their eyes.

As the night wore on, Steve and Bucky spent more and more time resolutely _not_ looking at one another and engaging in rather stilted conversations with their friends. It was intolerable and Steve was beginning to grow rather annoyed with the entire situation. In the end he changed places with Sharon, and Bucky shot him a slightly hurt look, which just managed to add a layer of confusion to Steve’s already well entrenched awkwardness.

Eventually, there was an intermission of sorts during one of the longer presentations and Steve managed to drag Sam aside on the way to the bathroom.

“What the hell has this been?” Steve asked with a frown.

“Well I mean uh, we just uh-” Sam stuttered.

“Sam,” Steve said as sternly as he could muster.

“Okay fine,” he said, avoiding Steve’s gaze, “we thought maybe putting you back together would make things… better?”

“No, giving me a chance to approach him somewhere less public would be better, Sam! Jeez,” Steve swore under his breath.

Sam sighed, “I’m sorry man.”

On the way back from the bathrooms, Sam suddenly pulled Steve to down a corridor and pushed him into a supply closet. “What the?” he asked.

There was a sharp intake of breath behind him, and Steve turned to see that Bucky was also in the room. The door shut firmly behind them and Steve ground his teeth as he heard the lock click.

“Sam, this isn’t funny!” he yelled through the door.

“Ten minutes dude, then we let you out.”

He turned to look at Bucky, who was looking close to tears. Suddenly, Steve’s anger evaporated and he strode over to Bucky, who actually took a step backward.

“They’re not gonna let us out until we talk, you know that right?” Steve asked.

Bucky closed his eyes and nodded, slumping his shoulders and hiding his face. He looked utterly defeated and it broke the last of Steve’s resolve. He reached forward to grasp Bucky’s wrist and pull him in close.

“I fucked up so bad,” Bucky said quietly. “I pushed you away and now you’re gone and I just-”

“Don’t I get to have a say in that?” Steve asked quietly.

Another sob escaped Bucky’s lips and he nodded miserably. “Exactly, Pierce came and I freaked out and you-”

“No Buck,” Steve said, gently cupping Bucky’s chin in his hand. “I mean: don’t I get a say in whether or not I’m gone forever?”

Bucky slowly looked up at him, shock clear on his face. “What?”

Steve took a long shaky breath. “I don’t want to be gone from your life. I don’t want to stop seeing you. I want to wake up every morning and kiss you, and I want you to know that when you freak out there are other options than just clamming up and pushing me away. I’m with you Bucky, to the end of the line.”

Bucky looked at him solemnly for a moment and then launched himself forward, catching Steve’s lips in his own. Steve spread his legs apart to steady himself and gave a little moan when Bucky nibbled on his lip. They stood, locked in a passionate embrace for what felt like ages until Steve finally pulled back, he tugged Bucky over to the stack of chairs in the corner and tugged two of them down.

“Talk to me, Bucky,” he said firmly. “I wanna know what happened so we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“I’m sorry, Steve. Fuck I’m so sorry,” Bucky said, a fresh set of tears flowing down his cheeks.

Steve tilted his head for a moment, and then leaned forward to kiss each tear. “I know, it’s okay. Just tell me what happened. I need to know Bucky, it’s been driving me nuts.”

Bucky, nodded and took a shuddering breath. “Pierce came and saw me that day,” he began.

Steve frowned. “When? The day you broke up with me?”

Bucky shut his eyes and took a shuddering breath. Steve took his hand, feeling oddly guilty for eliciting such a response. “Yeah, he came over and… I don’t…”

“Buck?” Steve prompted.

“He came and saw me and it was the same gaslighting bullshit as always and I was doing okay and then…” He took a long, steadying breath. “And then he hit me and-”

Steve surged to his feet. “He what?” he asked, looking around wildly as if he could somehow find Pierce in this godforsaken storage room and fight him.

“He slapped me a few times, threw more of the usual stuff at me, and then smacked me to the ground,” Bucky finished.

Steve dropped back into his seat and took Bucky’s hands in his own “Jesus Buck, I’m so sorry. Fuck, I wish I could have been there to help.”

Bucky nodded slowly and gave the ghost of a smile. “And I freaked out and had an episode basically. My thought process at the time was basically ‘I love him so much and I’m too broken to make him happy’ and I-”

The tears that had been welling in Steve’s eyes rolled over his eyelashes and down his cheeks as he brought Bucky in for a clumsy kiss. “Never say that Bucky, please never say that. You’re amazing and I love you. Please never make a decision like that without me ever again.”

Bucky nodded and babbled senselessly against Steve’s shoulder, where a wet patch was quickly spreading. They stayed like that for a while, neither of them speaking just holding one another and shaking. Eventually, Bucky pulled back and looked at Steve. “You love me?”

Steve gave a crooked grin and nodded. “Yeah, pretty sure I do.”

* * *

Bucky felt his breath hitch as Steve gave him a gloriously crooked grin. “Yeah, pretty sure I do.”

He leaned back for a moment, and took in the sight before him. Steve was staring at him with the most ridiculously earnest expression in his beautiful eyes and Bucky wanted to bottle that look up and keep it, so he’d never get lost again.

“I love you too,” he said, smiling at the way they sounded on his lips. “I really do.”

Steve surged forward and captured Bucky’s lips in his own. Bucky groaned and melted into the kiss, letting his hands wander. He soon grew amused at the way Steve shivered under his touch, and feeling somewhat brave, he slowly moved his hands down. When he reached Steve’s crotch, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Steve was hard. He grabbed the bulge in Steve’s pants and chuckled at the groan it elicited.

“Do you want me to take care of that?” he asked archly.

“I- what?” Steve asked, his eyes wide.

Bucky grinned and dropped to his knees and looked up at Steve, who was staring down at him with eyes blackened with lust. “Do it,” Steve whispered.

Bucky grinned and unzipped Steve’s fly and tugged his rock hard dick out. “This is so fucked up,” Bucky muttered. Steve didn’t reply, he just tightened his hands around Bucky’s head and pulled Bucky’s head forward. Bucky chuckled slightly and swallowed the tip teasingly. Steve gave a satisfying groan and Bucky swallowed it down to the base. Steve’s knees buckled and he gave out a stuttering groan.

“Fuck, Bucky this is…”

“Kind of fucked up?” Bucky asked, looking up at Steve.

Steve nodded and chuckled slightly. “Don’t stop though,” he commanded, pulling Bucky’s head forward again.

Bucky obediently went back to work, running his tongue up and down the shaft, and swirling it around the head, enjoying the shivers it sent through Steve. He cracked his neck slightly, and set to work, moving his head up and down to take the length of Steve’s dick into his mouth. Steve’s breath was coming in ragged gasps now, and there was a hitch every time Bucky swallowed him all the way down.

“Fucking fuck,” Steve muttered. “Bucky, please.”

Bucky gave a little huff of amusement as Steve held his face still and began thrusting into his mouth. Bucky adjusted his rhythm slightly so that he leaned forward whenever Steve thrust upwards. The effect on Steve was electric, and he came messily in Bucky’s mouth a few moments later.

Bucky swallowed it down, and wiped his mouth. “Hi,” he said quietly, looking up at Steve.

Steve laughed quietly and pulled Bucky to his feet and into his arms. “I missed you,” Steve said quietly, pulling Bucky in for a lingering kiss.

Bucky eventually broke away so that he could fix his hair. Luckily, his tux wasn’t too dishevelled - although he thanked his lucky stars that the floor had been linoleum as opposed unfinished concrete or hardwood floors. Steve zipped his trousers up and Bucky pouted at him.

“Oh so you didn’t miss me so much as you missed my dick huh?” Steve asked archly.

Bucky grinned toothily and gave an affected shrug. “What can I say, it has magical powers.” He paused and grinned wider. “It’s dicknotising.”

Steve groaned and Bucky actually giggled. “I can’t believe you just said that,” Steve complained.

“You totally can, I’m the worst,” Bucky disagreed with a small smile.

Steve rolled his eyes and then frowned, obviously thinking something through. “So what’re we gonna tell them?” he asked finally.

“Who?” Bucky asked, frowning at the question.

“Our asshole friends,” Steve replied.

Bucky gave a little laugh and nodded. “Oh, you mean the assholes who shoved us in a locked room forced us to talk?”

“Those are the ones,” Steve agreed with a cocky grin. He snaked his hands around Bucky’s waist and pulled him in for another lingering kiss. “Buck, I was planning to talk to you tonight, somewhere more private without the stress of everyone watching.”

“Okay, well yes that probably would’ve been better,” Bucky agreed. “It was a bit uh, unnerving?”

“Of course I wasn’t aware you were gonna blow me…” Steve continued casually, a smirk still playing on his lips.

Bucky huffed a little laugh in response. “I mean, I did kind of do you wrong,” he replied with mock solemnity.

“Oh totally, it’s only fair,” Steve said.

“Only decent,” Bucky agreed. He squinted thoughtfully at Steve. “In fact I owe you at least a few more I think.”

“Oh definitely,” Steve agreed. “At least four.”

“Three and a half.”

“How do you give half a blowjob?” Steve asked curiously, still holding Bucky close.

“Really quickly?” Bucky hazarded, attempting to not be distracted by Steve’s close proximity.

“Anyway,” Steve replied with a laugh. “I’m grateful to them, but this was kinda annoying.”

“Well I mean we could just… not tell them?” Bucky suggested, a hint of an idea forming in his mind.

“Not tell them?” Steve asked lazily thumbing along Bucky’s jaw.

“That we’re back together?” Bucky babbled.

“Are we back together?” Steve asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“Steve!” Bucky cried, pulling back with mock anguish.

Steve laughed and tugged Bucky over to him again. “Yeah we’re back together, babe. I also like the idea of not telling them. We’re actors, we can pull this off.”

They chatted amicably for a minute or two until they heard footsteps approaching. They shared a long glance and Steve winked, sending a flutter down Bucky’s chest. He smoothed his face over and took several steps to away as the door opened to reveal Natasha and Sam. The pair’s jubilant expressions quickly died to confused frowns in the face of Bucky’s affected discomfort and Steve’s stony glare.

“Um, hi?” Sam tried, looking from one to the other.

“I think mistakes may have been made,” Natasha said, sounding uncertain for one of the few times in Bucky’s memory. He pushed past Sam and Natasha and strode down the hallway, aware that Natasha was catching up to him.

“Okay so before you get mad,” she started.

“Try again,” Bucky replied, desperately fighting to hide a smile. He knew from past experience that the act of doing so actually just made him look more serious, which was a bonus in this situation.

“Okay before you get _too_ mad,” she corrected with a sigh. “Remember that we love you very much and just want you to be happy.”

“You want me to be happy so you _shoved me in a closet_ with my… whatever Steve is, like I’m the teenage girl in a high school romance movie?” Bucky asked.

Natasha grimaced and nodded. “Approximately: yes.”

“Good plan,” Bucky said witheringly.

“It should have worked,” Natasha replied moodily. “You’ve spent the entire night gagging for him, I’m surprised we didn’t catch you on your knees going to town.”

A smile flitted across Bucky’s face but he saved it by looking away. “It’s nice to know you think I have such little self control,” he replied, deciding to change the topic.

“Oh fuck off, who’d have self control if they were dating someone like that.”

“So what, you have no self control with Sam?”

“None whatsoever.”

“This conversation is going to a dark place Natasha let’s change-” he felt Natasha’s nails dig into his arms and he looked up to see Alexander Pierce stalking towards them with his face like thunder.

Bucky’s mind went perfectly blank for a second, and then suddenly Steve was there and his arm was around Bucky’s waist and Bucky felt his fear replaced with a sudden, towering anger.

“YOU,” Pierce yelled, pointing a shaking finger not at Bucky, but at Natasha.

“Me,” Natasha said, stepping past Bucky and grinning angelically.

Pierce paused in the face of her lack of concern at his rage. “I was just informed by a studio boss that a movie I’ve put a lot of work into won’t get made.”

“Oh dear,” Natasha said, the lack of sympathy clearly evident in her voice. “What a shame that the world is denied another intellectual wank fest.”

“You little-” Pierce began, before pausing and looking at Bucky, Steve, and Sam.

“Always the same with bullies like you,” Natasha said quietly, moving closer to him. “Not so brave when there’s other people to witness things, are you?”

“Especially when one of them doesn’t give a damn about knocking some teeth out,” Steve said threateningly from behind Bucky. Bucky turned for a second and locked eyes with Steve, who nodded and acquiesced into silence.

“Don’t be silly, Natasha,” the booming voice of Nick Fury sounded down the hallway. “He’s never been brave. Just an opportunistic little parasite with a small amount of talent and delusions of grandeur.”

Bucky’s eyebrows shot up as he looked away from Pierce and Natasha to see Fury approaching with Pepper, Tony, Bobbi, and Peggy.

“I don’t know that I’d say he has any talent,” Pepper added in a loud voice. “My experience has always been that he’s stolen ideas and editing tips from those less famous but far more talented.”

“Now listen here, missy,” Pierce said in a dangerous voice. He was stressed, Bucky could see it clearly, and he revelled in that fact. “I’m an important man and I don’t deserve to be spoken to like that.”

“No,” Natasha disagreed. “You’re an abusive asshole who tried to destroy my best friend’s life, and what you deserve is to have your life crash down around you.”

“And since we’re good samaritans we’ve decided to give you what you deserve,” Peggy replied with a purr.

“It’s amazing the type of things you can dig up if you spend a little money,” Tony added. “Haven’t you always found that amazing Pep?”

“I have always found it amazing,” Pepper agreed. “Particularly when it digs up a list of people who are willing to go on record about the abuse they’ve suffered.”

Pierce had grown pale and he took a step back. “You- You wouldn’t dare.”

“Why not?” Bobbi asked smoothly. She looked over and winked at Bucky, and he felt an overwhelming sense of love for his friends. They’d obviously been very busy. “Besides, you’re a lousy judge of partners. Abusing the sibling of a famous journalist who is just _dying_ to sink her teeth into a new story is just so gauche.”

Pierce looked visibly shaken for a moment, before standing straight and and pasting on an oily smile. “I’m sure we can make this all go away, can’t we? Come to some sort of equitable solution that benefits every party.”

“Man, you’re a real piece of work,” Sam said in disgust.

“That’s not up to us,” Pepper said in the voice of someone who would kill if she was ever called ‘missy’ again in her lifetime. “That’s up to Bucky.”

Pierce’s face suddenly grew smug and he threw Bucky a contemptuous look. “We’ll, I’ll just be on my way then,” he said, moving to walk away.

Bucky suddenly felt a surge of anger course through him. Pierce was not going to get away with this. He’d hurt Bucky for years, and evidently hurt others before and since. Steve placed a comforting hand on his elbow and Bucky suddenly knew he was strong enough. “No” Bucky said in a steady voice that made him proud down to his core. “You don’t get to walk away like nothing happened you unmitigated piece of shit.”

Pierce sneered and forgot himself for a moment. “We don’t swear like that at me, James, it doesn’t end well-” He suddenly stopped and looked around for a moment. “I uh, I mean that was very rude, James.”

“Do not call me James,” Bucky said, enunciating each word curtly. “There are three people allowed to call me James, my mother, my sister, and Natasha. You’ll notice you’re not on the list.”

Pierce’s eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to retort when Natasha interrupted him. “Is this really the way to talk to someone you’re trying to negotiate with?”

Pierce blinked and looked at her owlishly. “I- I-”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Natasha said insincerely. “Did I step on your moment?”

Bucky sent her a look and she subsided. “Face it, Alexander. I have you by the balls, and in a way that’s only fun for me.”

Pierce’s expression became soft. “You wouldn’t do this to me, would you James? After all that we’ve been through together?”

Bucky lifted his eyebrows and exchanged a long glance with Natasha. “You mean like when you pushed me down a flight of stairs? Or that enlightening time you tied me to a bed for five hours while you had guests over so that I wouldn’t ‘embarrass you’ because those weren’t as fun for me as they were for you, let me tell you.”

“I think you might be a little screwed, Pierce,” Nick said with a smug little smile.

“I’ll make you pay for this James,” Pierce threatened.

“Shall I uh, call security?” Tony asked lightly.

“No need,” Bucky said with a shrug. “Enjoy the evening Alexander, it’ll be your last enjoyable one for a while. On Monday, things are going down.”


	14. You Know All That We Ever Really Needed Was Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve and Bucky spend a morning in bed, Steve gives a rather ground-breaking interview, Bucky faces his past, and the boys have a chat in the park.
> 
> Or: welcome back to the land of fluff, my children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I apologise profusely for the gap between chapters! I re-wrote this chapter a couple of times, plus life has been kicking me in the arse hard. I hope you enjoy!

Alexander Pierce’s spectacular fall from grace quickly became the stuff of Hollywood legends. From the moment Carol’s sensational piece was published, the media began howling for blood. From there, a string of high budget movies were ‘delayed’, ‘shelved indefinitely’, or just plain cancelled as the studios washed their hands of him. When the possibility of legal action began to gain traction, Pierce had fled to Sokovia of all places to wait out the storm.

The best part for Steve though, was the fact that Bucky finally seemed ready to move on with his life. The awards ceremony had been a month ago, and he and Bucky had spent a long time talking things over. It had been difficult and tiring at times, but they’d come out the other end even more confident in their ability to deal with problems.

Bucky shifted slightly and Steve grinned. He was lying bed, enjoying the feel of Bucky nestled beside him when he got a text message from Natasha.

**Natasha:** Have you asked him yet?

Steve rolled his eyes and glanced at Bucky again, who was frowning adorably in his sleep. Steve reached over and stroked an errant strand of hair off Bucky’s face, and he stilled.

**Steve:** Not yet, he’s sleeping.

**Natasha:** Hurry up! I wanna tell him about Sam moving in with me :-)

Steve gave a startled oath and then looked down guiltily at the sleeping form beside him. Luckily Bucky didn’t stir.

**Steve:** Sam’s moving in with you???

**Natasha:** Oops? :D

**Steve:** You are the worst at secrets, Natasha

**Natasha:** You take that back I am the BEST at secrets. We’re gonna live in the same city now, you have to be nice to me

**Steve:** I *AM* nice to you, Nat

**Natasha:** Tell me when you’ve asked him :~)

Steve rolled his eyes and looked down at Bucky fondly, just in time for him to give a ponderous snore. Steve froze, trying desperately to keep the laugh building inside him from burbling up. He began to shake slightly from the effort, but was rather proud of the fact that he managed to stay silent.

At least until Bucky gave a sigh and opened a bleary eye. “Why are you shaking?”

Steve snorted and poked him in the side with his elbow. “Welcome back to the world of the living,” Steve said with a smile.

“‘Lo,” Bucky replied, stretching like a cat. “Who’ve you been texting?”

Steve coughed and scratched the back of his head. “Um, nobody?”

Bucky blinked sleepily at him and then rolled his eyes. “So how was Nat?”

Steve frowned. Bucky was half asleep, he really shouldn’t be so perceptive. “What uh, makes you say-”

Bucky snorted and sat up. “I know you, and I know her. You two have been thick as thieves for days. Sam and I have been trying to work out what’s going on.”

Steve’s mind went blank for a moment. He was suddenly deeply concerned that Bucky might have guessed what he was going to ask. Then of course, he caught himself and smiled - if Bucky had guessed and wasn’t freaking out, then there was no reason to freak out. “Actually,” he said after a moment, shifting so he was looking directly at Bucky. “I do have something.”

Steve nearly gulped as Bucky arched a perfect eyebrow at him. He looked so beautiful, stretched out lazily and framed by the early morning light filtering in from the window. Steve suddenly realised that he was completely sure, and that he didn’t have to worry about anything.

“Yes?” Bucky asked. “You gonna ask me or just stare at me?”

Steve chuckled and leaned forward to brush his lips against Bucky’s quickly before breaking away. Bucky had other ideas however, and snaked his hand around Steve’s neck and brought him back for a much slower kiss. Steve was slightly breathless and tingly by the time they broke apart, and Bucky looked utterly sated.

“I was uh,” Steve started.

“Fuck it,” Bucky interrupted and held a finger up to hush Steve before twisting around to hunt through his top drawer for a moment. He returned with a small black bag and Steve frowned, wondering what the hell was going on. “I’m pretty sure I know what you were gonna ask, but I’ve kinda been working on something too so, here.”

“What?” Steve asked. Bucky grinned and handed the bag over to Steve who frowned down at it, nonplussed.

“Open it, you ass,” Bucky commanded with a laugh, and Steve complied.

It was a key, simple and unpretentious hanging from a key ring on a silver chain along with a set of dog tags he’d obviously had custom made. Steve looked up and met Bucky’s slightly wide eyed gaze.

“You’ve already got the key to my heart, how about the key to my home?” He asked, before giving a little huff of laughter. “God, that sounded way less corny in my head.”

“Buck?” Steve asked, his mind filled with a torrent of hope and joy. “What are you asking?”

“I’m asking you to move in with me, punk,” Bucky said with an eyeroll. “I wanna make my home _our_ home. Plus, I know Sam’s moving in with Nat so it’s basically the perfect excuse for you to come out here permanently.”

Steve felt his mouth drop as he sat up. “You _knew_?” he asked incredulously. “How did you know before me?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Sam asked me to scope out if Nat would be open to the idea, and I actually managed to figure it out without her getting onto me.” He sounded smug, and Steve had to admit he had every right to be, it wasn’t often you could get something past Natasha.

“That’s actually impressive, Barnes,” Steve replied

Bucky however was frowning. “Uh, Stevie?”

Steve blinked and looked at him inquiringly. “Yeah Buck?”

“You haven’t actually answered me yet,” Bucky said, a hint of nervousness colouring his voice. “Put me out of my misery here.”

Steve rolled his eyes and scratched his chin in mock thought. “Hmmm… Hmmm… Let me see…”

“Steven,” Bucky said witheringly.

“Hmmm, I guess so?” Steve said eventually. “Why do you even have to ask, I was planning on asking _you_!”

Bucky grinned, and launched forward to pin Steve to the bed. “I love you,” he said, before pulling him in for a lingering kiss.

***

Steve was nervous.

They’d gone over this with both Pepper and Tony - both of whom had been far too ecstatic about the idea for Steve’s liking - and with Clint Barton himself. Ostensibly, the interview was about them working together and in a way Steve was looking forward to being completely free, but he was still nervous.

Bucky made a strangled little noise and patted Steve on the knee. “I’ll be right back,” he said with a grin. Steve nodded with a half smile, just in time to feel his phone vibrate in his pocket.

He took it out and rolled his eyes.

**Natasha:** Hey Stevie, how’re your nerves?

**Steve:** I wish Buck hadn’t told you about that nickname, I can’t stand it!

**Nat:** Deflecting are we ;-)

Steve rolled his eyes and pocketed the phone, looking around to see where Bucky had got to.

He frowned in confusion when he spotted him across the set, talking animatedly with a production assistant with long black hair. It distracted him enough that he forgot about his nervousness. He looked around, noting that the rest of the backstage crew were casting them amused looks.

He pulled himself up from his chair and wandered over to them. “Hi,” he said mildly.

The black haired girl spun around at him and grinned hugely. “Hi! Steve right? I’m a huge fan!”

“This is Kate,” Bucky explained with a grin. “She got my autograph for her girlfriend when we first met.”

Steve lifted his eyebrows and put on his most charming grin - Bucky had told him about this ages ago. “Nice to finally meet you,” he said, shaking her hand.

She looked slightly wide eyed and turned to Bucky. “Holy shit, your boyfriend is hot,” she whispered to Bucky.

Steve froze and Bucky obviously did the same thing. “Wait, are you not dating and I’ve totally just misread the situation because oh god that would be so-”

“I,” Bucky croaked quietly.

“How?” Steve croaked, his mind still blank.

She looked from one to the other, bouncing on the balls of her feet slightly. “Well I mean, you two just flow together? Eye dee kay, just seemed natural?”

Steve blinked and looked at Bucky for clarification. When none was forthcoming he turned back to her. “Eye dee kay?”

“I don’t know,” she replied with a grin.

“What don’t you know- oh,” Bucky said, suddenly laughing. “I-D-K I get it.”

“We’re old,” Steve moaned, having come to the same conclusion as Bucky. “I don’t think I’ve ever vocalized that before?”

Kate smirked and made an exaggerated shrugging pose. “Soz boys, just thought I’d break the tension.” She looked up at the Production Assistant who was gesturing at them pointedly. “Your time to shine!”

She bounced off, and Steve suddenly wished that he could go with her. The next few minutes seemed to pass with a blur as Steve moved mechanically, his only anchor lying in Bucky’s comforting presence beside him.

As they sat down, Steve felt his vision grow slightly clouded. This was it, there was no backing out. He blinked once, twice, and then his vision cleared. He pasted on a grin, and smiled out at the clapping audience.

“Hi guys, how’re you both doing tonight?” Clint asked, enthusiastically.

“Oh you know, just fine,” Bucky said grinning easily. As always, Bucky smiling made Steve smile and he leaned back in his chair, feeling more relaxed.

“We were just in the neighborhood and thought we’d drop by,” Steve deadpanned.

Clint gave an exaggerated eyeroll to the audience, and there was a scatter of laughter.

Once the audience had settled down, Steve felt himself sink into publicity mode, answering the various questions Clint fired at them with his usual air of humility and amusement. He knew Clint was building up to the big question, and he shifted a little in his chair as the anticipation built and built.

Finally, it was time to face the music. “So, gentlemen it’s time for the age old question that talk show hosts ask their guests,” Clint said with an almost imperceptible wink. “Are you dating anyone?”

This was it, this was the moment. Clint had set him up perfectly with the promise that if he didn’t say anything or fobbed it off, he’d leave it for this particular interview. That fact - that tacit support from a man that he didn’t know all that well, made Steve feel strong. The heat of Bucky sitting beside him made him feel even stronger again. “I am actually,” he said with as steady a voice as he could muster.

“Oooh juicy!” Clint cried. “Anyone we’d know?”

Bucky gave a laugh and leant on his knee. “Oh you’ll definitely know them.”

Clint raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Who, you have to tell us!”

“The man sitting beside me actually,” Steve said after what felt like an eternal pause.

There was a shocked gasp in the crowd and Clint did his very best to look flabbergasted. “You?” he asked Bucky.

Bucky laughed easily. “Yep, me.”

“We actually met on this show,” Steve added. “And sort of… Hit it off from there.”

There was a pause as the crowd cheered loudly. Steve was slightly flabbergasted, he’d expected at least some negativity - although given the pre-warning, and knowing Tony, the audience may have actually been hand picked for all he knew. “Well I think the audience here tonight definitely approves,” Clint said with a grin.

“So you’ve been dating, what? Six months or so?” Clint asked, furrowing his brow for a moment. “That’s an impressive amount of time.” He turned to look at Steve with again. “So did the whole dating a guy thing come as a surprise to you or was it something you always knew?”

Steve shrugged, the reaction from the crowd still buoying him up. “I’m bisexual,” he said in an offhand manner. “I’ve just not dated a guy while famous, so it’s not been an issue.”

Clint nodded thoughtfully, and then leaned towards Bucky. “And you must be happy?”

Bucky laughed easily and placed a hand on Steve’s knee. “Hey I get to date Steven Rogers, what’s not to love?”

“Well I personally think it’s brave,” Clint said with an approving nod. “And I’m honored that you’ve shared it with us here tonight.” The crowd started cheering again, and the production assistant motioned for an ad break. “Well it’s time for an ad break, but we’ll be right back with more from these two love birds!”

“Okay five minutes people,” the production assistant called. Steve leaned back in his chair and gave an explosive breath while the audience began chatting loudly amongst themselves.

“That was great,” Clint said earnestly. “Really, you did great.”

Steve looked over and saw Tony and Pepper grinning from the side of the stage, and rolled his eyes. He should have known that they wouldn’t have just sent a publicist for this kind of thing. He refocused his attention on Clint after Bucky poked him. “Sorry, yes! Thanks, it was…” He groped around for a second. “I nearly didn’t go through with it, but honestly I owe it to Bucky-”

“And yourself,” Bucky interrupted.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yes dear, and myself to be honest. Besides, you’ve always been cool with us so it’s only right you get the ratings.”

Clint laughed and clapped his hands together. “Oh trust me, even if I didn’t love the fact that you two met on my damn show, the ratings and how happy they’ll make my bosses would have been enough to do all this anyway.”

“Things are gonna get crazy,” Bucky commented.

“Damn right,” Clint replied.

Steve shrugged, and smiled at Bucky. “We can handle it.”

* * *

Bucky wasn’t in the best of moods when Alexander Pierce finally showed up at his door. It was a cloudy day, nearly a year since Bucky had last laid eyes on the man when he finally showed up.

Steve was being _mysterious_ which over the year they’d been dating, Bucky had learned to find amusing. Today however, he was feeling a bit out of sorts and crabby about the fact that Steve had been explicit that he and Natasha go out that morning to do something secret. The idiots were probably planning Natasha’s inevitable engagement to Sam, although as far as he could tell from his constantly vibrating phone, Sam was with them also.

When the doorbell rang, Bucky muttered a choice expletive and stomped down the stairs to the front door.

“Hello, James,” Pierce said to him, trying to affect the sneer that had so frozen Bucky in years past.

Bucky, however, was not in the mood. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” he snapped. “I’m gonna be late for some vaguely explained gathering! What the fuck are you doing here?”

Pierce blinked and actually shrank back slightly. “There’s no reason to talk to me like that James, I’m hurt.”

“Oh are you?” Bucky asked sarcastically, refusing to be drawn out by Pierce’s repeated use of his first name. “That’s a shame isn’t it? You can have a big long cry into some ice cream while you dodge the Feds later.” He raised his eyebrows and gave Pierce a penetrating look. “But for now I repeat: what the fuck do you want?”

Pierce looked even less sure of himself, and Bucky found a certain amount of satisfaction in that. “I saw the whole media storm over you and tall, blonde, and bland coming out as a couple - I must say I thought you had better taste.”

Bucky snorted derisively and leant against the door. He felt… odd. Pierce wasn’t affecting him in the slightest, even though he kept trying to bait Bucky into an argument. “You mean I used to like abusive assholes like you? Sorry, Pierce, I’ve upgraded.”

Pierce’s eyes darkened and he surged forward. Bucky rolled his eyes and put some of the self defense techniques he’d picked up from personal trainers and lashed out with the heel of his palm directly on Pierce’s solar plexus. Bucky smiled serenely as Pierce doubled over, equal amounts of shock and discomfort written plain on his face.

“What- the hell did you- do to me?” he panted.

“I winded you, idiot,” Bucky snapped back.

Pierce coughed and tried to straighten up. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he forced out. “You know I hate it when you make me teach you a lesson.”

Bucky shrugged uncaringly. “It’s a long time since I’ve cared about anything you have to say, so I’ll give you one more chance before I call the cops: what… the… fuck… are you doing here?”

Pierce scowled but shrugged. “I _had_ decided that I’d take you back,” he said with a contemptuous little snort. “But after you physically attacked me, you’ll have to grovel to get me to take you back now.” He looked at Bucky haughtily, and Bucky felt a laugh bubble up from his chest.

He stared for a long moment, fighting the laugh before finally giving in. He burst into a massive shout of laughter. “You,” he stared, before breaking into a helpless burst of glee. “You decided to take me back?” Bucky spent a minute laughing uproariously, trying his hardest to contain his mirth. “Oh god, Pierce that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in _ages_ , honestly! I didn’t know you were a comedian now?”

Pierce, for perhaps the only time Bucky could ever remember, was actually lost for words. He was staring at Bucky with such unmitigated surprise and shock that Bucky almost felt sorry for him. Almost. “What?” he finally asked, in what Bucky assumed was meant to be a dangerous tone.

“You spent literally years abusing me, until we _broke up_ by way of me _fleeing_ across the country to get away from you, and you just think that you can decide that we can be in a relationship again?” Bucky shook his head and giggled. “You really are bent aren’t you?”

“Listen here you little-” Pierce stepped forward and poked Bucky in the chest before breaking off to look around. “You little _slut_! Everything you are is because of me! Don’t you for a single second think that I don’t _own you_ you little bitch!”

Bucky looked down at the finger on his chest and began to laugh again. How had it taken him so long to realize that Pierce was so absolutely pathetic? The answer of course was a lot of therapy, but Bucky decided to brush over that. “You know, I do actually feel sorry you,” he said, flicking Pierce’s hand away, eliciting another delicious look of shock. “But I don’t actually have time for your mind games right now. Or ever, actually, so it’s time for you to fuck off out of my life.”

Pierce completely lost it at that point, and made a grab for Bucky’s throat. Once again, years of bits and pieces clicked together and Bucky shrugged the hands aside and almost as an afterthought, kneed Pierce in the groin as hard as he possibly could. Pierce for his part, went down like a sack of brick with a startled sob.

Suddenly, Bucky decided that he was over the situation and reached into his pocket for his cell. “Get up,” he said contemptuously. “You have thirty seconds to leave or I’m calling the cops.”

Pierce rose slowly to his feet, and pasted on an oily smile. “You’re not really going to do that though are you babe? You know I love you really, we’re meant to be together-”

Bucky rolled his eyes and dialled 911 and put the phone to his ear.

“911, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked in a calm voice.

“Hi,” Bucky said calmly, noting Pierce’s widening eyes with a feeling of smug satisfaction. “A man who I happen to know has outstanding warrants for arrest has just knocked on my door and I’d like to report him to the police.”

Pierce gave a strangled noise and ran down the stairs and out of Bucky’s life for good.

***

The incident with Pierce had eaten up more of Bucky’s morning than he could spare, so he was somewhat out of breath as he jogged up the path to where he was meant to meet Steve. “Why the fuck are we in Central Park?” he muttered to himself crossly as he passed several people who stopped to double-take at him.

Eventually, he spotted Steve in the distance, and slowed down to a walk. “Hey,” he said as nonchalantly as possible when he came within speaking distance. “You won’t believe the morning I’ve had!”

“Oh really?” Steve asked as he obligingly shifted on the park bench he was splayed out on and Bucky plonked himself down next to him. He looked at Steve over with narrowed eyes for a moment, noting the barely concealed grin and twinkle in his eyes. Both of those things never boded well for Bucky - they always ended up with him doing something ridiculous, or bent over something and being firmly fucked, or on one memorable occasion: bent over something doing something ridiculous whilst being firmly fucked.

“I’m not liking the look in your eye Steven, why don’t you tell me about your morning first,” Bucky said rather firmly.

The twinkle in Steve’s eye intensified, and Bucky felt a shiver run down his spine. “Nah Buck, I think you’d better tell me about _your_ morning first. It’s probably way more interesting.”

Still not completely trusting his boyfriend, Bucky grudgingly obliged. “Well, Alexander Pierce paid me a visit this morning,” Bucky said as nonchalantly as possible.

The look on Steve’s face was delicious. He went from the cat that got the cream to the cat that had been spayed and bathed in an instant. “What?” he shouted, a look of concern crossing his face.

“Oh yeah,” Bucky continued, utterly unruffled. “He had the gall to show up and tell me that ‘he was ready to take me back now’, which really? Hilarious!”

Steve blinked, completely nonplussed. “He- what?”

“Yeah, so I gave him a piece of my mind and he put on what used to be his scary face, so I kicked him in the balls and called the cops.”

Steve burst out into surprised laughter. “You? Oh my god Buck!”

Bucky was grinning now and shrugged. “Yeah, seems like I’m finally able to deal with the asshole properly, plus kicking him in the balls felt really, really good.”

Steve shook his head and shifted to bring Bucky in for a long, lingering kiss. There was a noise from the trees nearby and Bucky broke the kiss to look around nervously. Why did he feel like they were being watched? He turned to look at Steve, who had the cocky, self-satisfied look back in his eyes. “I’m really proud of you, okay Buck? Let’s just hope the marshals get him.”

Bucky lifted an eyebrow and then nudged Steve with his shoulder. “Thanks,” he said with a smile. He was actually very proud of himself, and of how far he’d come. He was also kind of deliriously happy that he’d managed to have some closure. “I owe a lot of it to you,” he said honestly, enjoying the sight of Steve’s cockiness dropping away to be replaced with genuine happiness.

“Okay,” Steve said, after a pause. “Is it my turn?”

Bucky laughed and settled back into his seat. “Hit me with it.”

Steve laughed and turned slightly so they were looking at one another. “So this morning I was running around with Nat and Sam,” he said with a cocky little grin. Alarms immediately went on in Bucky’s head because Sam had definitely made it sound like that wasn’t the case.

“Okay…” Bucky, said, shifting in worry.

“And then we met up with your sisters,” Steve continued, his grin growing wider as Bucky frowned.

“Stevie, what are you up to?” Bucky finally managed to croak out.

Steve didn’t answered, merely smirked and leaned forward to kiss the side of Bucky’s neck. “Steve,” Bucky pressed, refusing to be distracted.

Steve shifted until he was looking at Bucky solemnly. Bucky tried his best to remain undistracted by his beautiful blue eyes, and nearly succeeded. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” Steve started. “About you and me, and everything.”

Bucky smiled despite the terrifying (and exciting) suspicion that had formed in his brain. “I feel like Gary Lightbody should be warbling in the background right now.”

Steve rolled his eyes and tapped a hand on Bucky’s knee. “No, bad Bucky! No cinematics!”

Bucky grinned impishly and nodded for Steve to continue. “You were thinking about us?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, pausing for a moment to smile down at his hands. “And that’s kind of why I brought you here, I wanted to…” He trailed off and looked at Bucky through his eyelashes. “Close your eyes?”

Bucky looked at him a moment, and then nodded. He closed his eyes and felt Steve shift off the bench. Bucky’s heart began fluttering as Steve took his hand. “Can I open my eyes yet?” Bucky asked, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible.

“Yeah, I think so,” Steve replied, sounding oddly nervous.

Bucky opened them to find Steve kneeling on one knee with a ring in his hand. “Oh my god,” he said, a smile splitting his face, mirrored a second later on Steve’s. “You are an absolute-”

“Buck,” Steve interrupted, a sense of urgency in his voice. “I’ve thought about this a lot, and I love you so much - even when you drive me up the fucking wall - so I was wondering…”

“Yes?” Bucky asked. He decided that he was going to make the little shit actually come out and ask him, and he could tell that Steve could tell, because he rolled his eyes.

“Will you marry me?” Steve asked finally.

Bucky wrinkled his nose and pretended to think for a moment. He looked down at Steve, this beautiful man with his heart in his eyes, staring up like Bucky was his whole world and he shrugged. “I guess so? Not likely to find any better offers am I?” Steve’s mouth dropped open, and Bucky laughed. “Of course I’ll marry you, you asshole,” Bucky added. “I love you.”

Steve grinned and pushed the ring onto Bucky’s finger, and Bucky laughed and pulled him up by the chin for a long, heartfelt kiss. “I love you so much,” Steve whispered as they broke apart.

“I love you too,” Bucky whispered back.

Then of course, his phone rang. It was Darcy. “Hello,” he answered, after rolling his eyes and showing Steve the phone.

“Yo bro, has he proposed yet?” Darcy asked without preamble. He heard a chorus of cries in the background from what sounded suspiciously like Peggy, Natasha and Sharon.

Bucky rolled his eyes again and gave Steve an amused look. “What? Who’s proposing? Steve’s proposing?”

Steve furrowed his brow and and Bucky obligingly put the phone on speaker. There was a long, horrified silence on the other end. “I uh, um.” She cleared her throat and Bucky had to look away to disguise his laugh with a cough. “I was just…” She paused and there was another scuffle in the background, which she seemed to win. “Wait a second, I can hear this, you’ve got me on loudspeaker. He’s already asked, I can tell.”

Steve and Bucky looked at one another with open mouths and Steve leaned forward. “What happened to waiting back at my and Bucky’s place?” he asked with a little frown that Bucky found incredibly enticing.

“We got bored,” Darcy replied defensively. “So we decided to come spy on the proposal.”

“What she means is that they got banished by Carol, Bobbi and Sam for being a ‘nuisance’ and ‘in the way’, and I got saddled with babysitting them,” Peggy said in the background, her voice just audible in the distance.

Bucky glanced at Steve and they both got up and headed towards the sound of their voices. There was another pause in which the women argued about why they were crouching behind some bushes until Peggy rather acidically pointed out that they were still on the phone. Bucky switched the speakerphone off, and put it back to his ear. “Darce?” he asked very quietly.

“Yes?” she replied, loud enough that they could hear them. Steve pointed at one of the bushes and they crept towards it.

“Hi,” Bucky said, jumping out from behind the bushes and eliciting a scream of surprise from Darcy and a laugh from Sharon and Peggy.

“Oh my god,” Darcy said weakly from where she was splayed out on the grass. “Why did you do that?”

Steve helped her up and kissed her on the cheek. “Because you came to spy on me asking your brother to marry me?” he suggested, also kissing Peggy and Sharon on the cheek.

Bucky nodded solemnly. “Although I don’t know what I expected, you’re not good with ‘boundaries’ really,” he said, making full use of sarcastic air quotes.

“Yes, well ‘boundaries’ are boring,” she shot back. She glanced at his left hand and grinned. “I see you said yes.”

Peggy and Sharon both whirled to look at him excitedly “You said yes?” Sharon asked.

“Of course I said yes,” Bucky shot back. “What else was I gonna say?”

He looked at Steve as they were pushed together and engulfed in a group hug. He’d definitely made the right decision.


End file.
